


Not a pet, not a slave. Just a kid.

by Dalamarf16



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Abandonment, Avocados, Brainwashing, Crying, Dehumanization, Foggy Is The Best, Friendship, Future avocados, Gen, High School, I am a slow writer, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kink-Meme, Matt - Freeform, Matt is a mess, Matt needs a hug, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Original Character(s), Orphans, Other, PTSD, Pet, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, STORY NOT ABANDONED, Slavery, Treats, Well - Freeform, actually most of them are trated like children, alternative universe, cute matt, foggy - Freeform, foggy talks for two, fugitive matt, helping foggy, kids can be adopted as a pet, matt & foggy - Freeform, matt is fucked up, matt luck is no luck, matt/foggy - Freeform, more tag will be added, mute matt, no bad intention from the us government, pet-kid, poor matt, slave AU, some people sucks, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 03:07:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5727394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalamarf16/pseuds/Dalamarf16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>US goverment has decided to allow people to adopt kid over 10 years old as pets, to give them a family. It's a shorter procedure, cheaper and it's like having a dog. Most of people adopt pet-kid and treat them as his they were their children. Unluckily, not all the people are good.<br/>And Matt finds himself on the street, freezing and starving after two years of hell.<br/>Foggy finds him half dead and decided to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Citlali for all the help you gave me in writing this and supporting me everytime!!
> 
> Hi everyone. This is my first AU fiction ever, and I am really, really unsure about this. I'm really trying to build something good about this, and more will be explained in future chapters.  
> Your feedback is really important to me, both positive and negative, they'll help me get better!  
> Also, English isn't my first language. I tried to be careful but please, feel free to point out any error you find! 
> 
> Also... I love cookies <3

Matt remembered how pet-kids looked like from before he lost his sight. Before his father died and he had became one of them.

He remembered how his father had been angry about that, about how people dragged them around the city, letting them stay outside shops, tied into specific area with water, food and, of course, corner for their physical needs.

He remembered animal control officers catching fugitives or strays and taking them into kennels.

When Matt’s father had died, he was barely nine, but the odds for a blind, strange kid to be adopted were too low, so he had been put directly in a kennel. They had put him in a small cage and had stayed there until he had been ten, the minimal age for pet-adoption.

He had been through eleven or twelve families in the last five and a half year. His blindness had always been considered cute by people, until his disability became a problem, a least. Then, they understood he couldn’t play like normal children with a ball or hide and seek, and they had always abandoned him or, when he had been lucky enough, returned.

Now, he was almost sixteen, and for the first time in his life, he had found the strength to flee from his currently family, and he had been in the wind for six or seven months now and, thanks to the abilities Stick (one of his many owners) had taught him, he had been able to not get caught so far.

When he had escaped, he had been fully naked, but he had been able to steal something to wear, but it was spring then, and food and cold had never been a problem, not until winter had come, suddenly, the first days of november.

He couldn’t steal heavier clothes, and the short pants and t-shirt were now dirty and ripped. Fruit and vegetables weren’t growing in the gardens anymore, and, dressed like that, he couldn’t simply enter into a supermarket and mooch something. Actually, he wasn't allowed to enter shop at all.

Food was a problem too, now.

He hadn’t eaten for three days, and the cold had reached his bones.

He smelled risotto and some kind of meat being cooked in a restaurant three block away from him. Fresh food always meant fresh trash after the end of the service. He made his way from the fire escape to the rooftop of the closest building, and from there, he jumped to his destination.

On a normal day, it would take him less than ten minutes to reach it, but the lack of food was claiming his due, and he found himself barely able to judge the distance between one rooftop and the following, let alone running.

Eventually, he missed completely the jump, and he found himself _falling._

_******** _

Hell’s Kitchen was full of strange noises. In every alley, in every corner, you could hear cats fighting, rats, shop boys throwing trash into dumpster and so on.

So, there weren’t many noises able to make a young boy born and raised there startle.

Still, the one of something crashing into the ground with strength couldn’t go unnoticed, not on early night, at least.

“What was that?” Alex asked, holding Foggy’s arm harder than she had before. It was nine in the evening and that was the end of their second date. Foggy stopped and looked into the alley, trying to see what had caused that. “Wait… what are you doing?”

“I’m just taking a look” he answered, venturing into the darkness.

“No, no, no. Please. What if it is a body or... an addicted? Please… Let’s go home…”

He heard the fear in her voice and decided to bring her home and then come back.

If his eyes hadn’t failed him, there _was_ a body, but not a corpse, not for now, at least.

**________________**

He came back an hour later, after his first kiss ever, but still curious about what had happened in that alley.

It wasn’t the best night to walk alone in a lane like that, but he simply couldn’t restrain himself. And there he was, a skinny figure, dressed in summer old clothes, out cold on the ground, under the rain that had started half an hour ago.

He found somewhere inside him the courage to make a step forward and take a closer look.

In the darkness of the alley, he couldn’t really see his face, except that he seemed really young, maybe around his age or even younger. His clothes… well, call them clothes would be an overstatement.

Maybe, in a previous life, they could have been a t-shirt and shorts, but now they were so ripped it was a miracle he hadn’t lost then during his fall from… he looked up… there was only the roof. No windows, balconies or fire escapes.

“Shit” he whispered.

That building was three stories tall.

He turned his attention back to the boy. He couldn’t exactly tell if his skin was black or if he was just very dirty, and he wasn’t wearing shoes. He looked around, looking for them, but he found nothing.

Eventually, he understood: young, not so well dressed, dirty, no shoes. Paying attention to not touch him, he moved his hair from his nape.

He had been right. The number and the barcode tattooed on it were the proof he had been looking for.

He was one of those pet-kids and since he still had the tattoo, he should had been in the system for years, because the newest didn’t get a tattoo anymore.

Now they got a gps implanted under they skin, a cruel but necessary treatment needed to discourage families from abandonment.

Not that really mattered, actually.

 

The pet-kid institution had been a reality since the early years of 1900, when immigration from Europe had started being massive and a lot of children had been ending up in orphanages because they couldn’t find their parents after the travel anymore or, worse, had been sent to the New World alone, to offer them a better future.

Since couples that wanted to adopt children weren’t many, and they always prefered babies, or very young children, institutes were overcrowded with kids older than ten years old, until one day, the governor of the State of New York had decided that the best way to solve the problem was offering the opportunity to adopt a kid as a pet, a pet-kid, and people had been enthusiastic.

What had really made the idea a full success were the procedure of the adoptions.

Take a pet-kid was way cheaper and easier than adopting a child and literally everyone could have one.

When you adopt a pet-kid, you don’t have to deal with judges or social service, all you have to do is going to a kennel, ask for a kid instead of a dog or a cat, choose, pay, and bring it at home. It's exaclty like adopting a pet, just human.

Also growing them up is different. You don’t have to send it at school if you don’t want to, and the only obligation you have is to have him dressed when you take him outside your home and to make them study until the end of elementary school.

Last but not least, if you decide you don’t want it anymore, or if it too old for your purposes, you can just return it.

Elder pet-kid were usually adopted to take care of elderly who couldn’t live alone anymore. When they become legally adults, they were free to go wherever they want, but, truth to be told, the one who had found a real family, even as a pet, chose to stay with them, if they agreed.

In the past, that had been the only chance for homosexual people to finally have a child, and, nowadays, it was the best opportunity for people considered unfitting for a standard adoption. Foggy knew a lot of families with pet-kids, and they had always treated them as if they were their real children, but he wasn’t blind and he had also seen how a lot of people used them as they were dogs or worse, and he also knew a lot of them used to abandon kids when they decided they didn’t want them anymore.

Of course, there were laws against that, for that reason usually people said the kid had just escaped; that was what the gps was for, so they could always track “fugitives”.

At least, families were forced to declare they didn’t want a rebel pet in their houses.

He wondered if this guy had run or if he had been abandoned and why in the hell was he on that rooftop.

That was not the right time for questions. It was cold and it was raining dogs and cats, and this kid was basically naked.

He didn’t lose any time.

He took his jacket off, shivering for the sudden lack of heat, and put it over him. It wasn’t exactly dry, but it was drier than his clothes, plus, it was kind of waterproof. It had to be okay, at least for now. He didn’t care why he was in this mess, or to get into trouble; Foggy knew if he let him there, the next morning police would find a dead boy in that alley. Maybe it was already too late, maybe the fall had caused some kind of lethal internal injuries or something else, but he has to help help him, or he couldn’t live with himself anymore.

“I’ll be back” he whispered to the unconscious figure, before looking for a place to hide him, possibly one where didn’t rain.

He couldn’t bring him home, not right now, at least. His birthmother, Rosalind, was in town, and she was staying by them because _she wanted to prove him she could be a good mother_. Bullshit.

She was giving him a taste of what Hell looked like. She kept judging him, telling him how and what to eat, or questioning his clothes… and even Alex. Plus, he couldn’t stand the view of his pet-brother.

His mother was indeed one of those people who treated them like dogs, and was trying to teach him how to be a good owner to him. He hated all this.

Maybe, helping this guy could be his way to stand against her and everything she represented; of course, that also meant he couldn’t bring him home, she would take him back to the closest kennel, so, he had to think about something else.

He paced the alley, thinking hard. T

hey needed an isolated place, an abandoned one, but with walls and roof still standing, and he had to be on his path back and forth to school, so he could stop easily. It took him a while, then he remembered there was an old insane asylum not far away from there, which was also near enough to school he could sneak there at lunch break (that had basically been the reason it had been close. According to parents, a nuthouse so close to a school was a bad thing for students). The only problem would be to get there. He could pretend the guy was drunk, but they had to hope not to find police in their way, because the odds they could pass for 21 years old students were so low they didn’t exist at all.

“Ok, buddy. Hold on, ok?” he forced the guy to wear his jacket, pulling the hood up his head, then he forced him to stand, supporting his full weight, and began to walk slowly, trying to stay out of the way, hiding in the shadows.

A couple of times, the boy had seemed to be awake, he had even taken a couple of steps by himself, but Foggy doubted he had been aware of what was happening. The way seemed to be three times longer, but eventually he managed to reach his destination. He leaned him to the ground as soon as they entered the empty building, suppressing the shiver of fear that had ran down his spine and panting heavily. He wasn’t in his best shape, and the guy wasn’t as skinny as he seemed. That place was creepy, but it had to be good enough, at least for now.

He took his time to catch his breath, then half dragged half carried him in a small room on his right, the only one that had not only the door, but also the key. It was small, and the fornitures had been smashed into pieces, but the small window was still intact, probably because it was made by some infrangible glass fiber so inpatients couldn’t break them, and the mattress had survived too.

Foggy took a mental note to bring some covers and sheets, because only God knew what kind of bacteria had taken home into it. For now, he used his jacket and made the boy lay on it. He was thinking about what to do next when Rosalind called him, angry because he was late and it was almost time to go the bed.

Yes, because he was _five_ and he had to go to bed before 10.30. Screw you very much, mom.

By the way, there wasn’t much more he could do right now. Electricity had been cut off the moment the hospital was dismissed, and his phone battery was dying, so he didn’t have a flashlight or anything else to help him. He stood up and walked out of the room, locking him down to prevent drug addicted or homeless from hurting him.

“See you tomorrow” he whispered before leaving.

**______________ **

Foggy found himself totally unable to sleep, images of that poor boy stuck in his mind.

He had absolutely no idea of what to do next.

Okay, the very next step was giving him some clothes. Winter clothes, possibly.

He was way fatter than him, but he figured his owns would still be better than what he had now. He got up a shoved a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt and his warmer hoodie into his backpack, trying to fix them in it along with his books. What else?

The guy had been on the street for a while, and the last few days had been fuckying cold. Could he be ill? Could he be into Hypothermia?

Since it was always better being safe than sorry, he googled _hypothermia_ and wrote down symptoms and cure.

Of course, hospitalization was out of question. Doctors would have to call his owners and, whether he had flied or not, if he had preferred dying on the streets than staying with them, they didn’t deserve him.

It was barely six am when he stepped out of his house, backpack on his shoulders.

It’s was still dark, so he had also taken a flashlight with him.

The nuthouse seemed to be still empty. Either it wasn’t a place attended by addicted, or they were hiding in other parts of the building, which was ok to him. He opened the door carefully.

“Ehy, you. I’m not going to hurt you, ok?” he called out, not knowing what else to say to not scare him to death. _Hi, I’m the one who locked you in there_ didn’t sound exactly a good way to introduce himself. It turned out the guy was still passed out, so he hadn’t heard him at all.

Foggy turned the flashlight on and pointed it at him. He was white, all the black he had seen the night before was dirty, and the rain had washed off part of it. Not that that mattered. He could even be _blue striped in red_ for how much he cared, but still. He looked for the symptoms he had found on the internet last night.

Definitely, his main problem wasn’t hypothermia. He was hot, actually. Way too hot.

He looked for high fever on the internet.

Ice packs on forehead and wrists, paracetamol to help the healing and water to keep him hydratated.

Ok. That wasn’t that difficult, was that? He could do this.

Ice was easy to find. Snow was everywhere in the streets. He exited the building and collected a big cube of iced snow, the one hard to break and you could use to hit someone with if you wanted to hurt him with a snowball.

Water was the next step: he had more or less thought about water, so he had a bottle with him, but how can you make a passed out person drink?

Paracetamol could be a problem, actually, but he decided to think about that later.

Hoping he wouldn’t wake up, he started to take his clothes of and replacing them with his owns. For now, the only blanket he had was his jacket, he couldn’t find any in his bedroom, but he was planning a visit to his grandma. She was _plenty_ of blankets, she wouldn’t notice one missing, would she?

After he had fixed the whole clothes thing, he placed the snow over his forehead.

The kid let out an unconscious sigh of relief, and his lips opened a little bit, so Foggy decided to wet his luckily clean napkin and pass it over his mouth, that opened more at the touch, making him smile. His body seemed to agree with his method.

He stayed with him until 7:30, making sure he didn’t catch an ice burn from the snow, then he rushed home just in time for breakfast (and stealing the thermometer), returning to the room to check him for a minute before going to school. The he came back at lunch, bringing some fruit just in case he was awake. He repeated the treatment with snow and water. 

And he did the same in the afternoon.

And that night he stayed with him instead of visiting his more-than-a-friend but still-not-a-girlfriend. The guy didn't wake up while he was with him, but he had shifted his position between the two visits, and, according to the thermometer, fever had slightly gone down.

Next step would be medicines (he had found a blister in his grandma's place when he had visited her for the blankets), but he needed him to be awake for those.

When the next morning he opened the door, he found himself suddenly stuck to the floor. The guy had definitely woken up. 


	2. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt wakes up. He is scared and weak. And Foggy is there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers! Thank you so much for reading! Special thank to the lovely person who left me her/his review... you made my day!  
> Special thanks also for Citlali for being an amazing beta! Every error left is my fault!
> 
> Next chapter is coming soon, I hope.
> 
> Please feel free to send comments or cookies... or whatever you want!   
> Everything will be appreciated!

He was hot. And then cold. And then hot again.

Heartbeat. 

He wasn’t alone and he wasn’t in the street, nor in his usual shelter on the rooftop of Fogwell’s gym. Did he return there after eating at that restaurant? Had Mr. Fogwell found him out and called the Officers? Did he actually _eat_ at that place?

It wasn’t the first time he lost part of his memories. It had happened when his owners didn’t feed him for days during his training. He forgot minutes or even hours. It was his body telling him he wasn’t doing so well.

This time, he couldn’t figure how much he had lost. Hours? Days? 

He tried to think and remember, staying perfectly still with his eyes closed, careful to not give himself away. It was the only way to buy himself some time. 

The last thing he remembered was smelling that restaurant and deciding to reach for it and try to get something to eat that had been in the dumpster for less than two days. He remembered he had jumped… and then nothing more. He moved on. There _had_ to be something else. Anything. He closed his eyes, ignoring the fast growing of  a headache. Nothing.

He decided to focus on the here and now.

Whatever had happened, he would find out somehow. If they had found and brought him back home, he would know everything painfully soon. 

He focused on his own body. He was running a temperature, he could feel not only through his skin . H e  could almost “see” how  the  blood vessels squeezed to prevent the loss of heat. He was slightly shaking too, and his heartbeat was way faster than normal. He felt tired, so tired he wanted to sleep. Though, he needed information. Who was with him and why in the first place, and also knowing where “here” was would be useful.

At any rate, he didn’t seem to want him  to be uncomfortable . He wasn’t wearing his old  wet  clothes anymore.  Someone had dressed him in  soft and warm clothes, and there was something similar to a blanket covering him and, apparently, he was trying to keep him cool despite the fever using some snow on his forehead. It smelled of smog, but it was helping.

He  needed to  sleep and recover. 

*******

The next time he woke up, he was alone. The snow was gone, and he couldn’t hear any other heartbeat around, not even muffled  through the walls. He tried to expand his  senses , to catch something, anything that could help him understand where he was. He listened to the echos of cars on the streets around him, the sound bouncing off brick and mortar, forming a map in his head of the surrounding landscape outside and from smells and sounds, he could find out if he was still in Hell’s Kitchen, or if he had been dragged somewhere else.

All he got  were the spins . And oblivion.

*******

He was alone again. His stomach grumbled, he was hungry, and his throat was screaming for water. He reached out his hands, feeling his surroundings, until  he found something. A bottle?

That was strange. They had never left him water or food during punishments or training  before . He  only  drank and ate when they said he could. What were they playing at? 

He took it, wary, bracing himself for whatever they had planned for him. But nothing happened. Instinct overcame his  thirst .  He forced himself to keep the bottle away from his nose and mouth while opening the cap,  just in case they’ d put  some kind of explosive liquid  in it . As soon as he was sure it wasn’t going to blow up, he sniffed the liquid.

Nothing. Apparently, it was just water. 

Still, he licked a drop with the  tip of his tongue, just one last check. Clear.

Hoping he wouldn’t regret his decision, he drank half of the bottle in one sip.

Maybe they wanted him on his feet (read: hand and knees) as soon as possible to start their fucking games again.

He still couldn’t believe what he had experienced in the last two years. Before that, he had thought those kind of things could happen only in the porn movies one of his previous owners liked so much. Like, you know, unicorns, for example.

He’d spent seven months in the kennel, and they trained him to be a good pet-kid. Matt did everything he could to be one of those. He used to feel pity for pet-kids before, but now that he was alone in the world, he would do anything to be adopted, even if it meant being a pet-kid. 

He wanted a family so much he also learnt how to act and play like a dog. He was young and innocent. He didn’t ask why he was the only one doing that kind of training. He didn’t know he was signing his own sentence. _He couldn’t imagine._

As soon as he had been ten, on the day of his birthday, a young couple came and took him home. Things went very well from there. They were lovely, Matt remembered them, and they didn’t care too much if he was blind. They didn’t treat him like his father did, he was more like some kind of spoiled dog than a child to them, but it wasn’t too bad. They fed him and cuddled him a lot, and he could sleep on a warm blanket in front of the fireplace. Then they had their own child and they had thought it would be too difficult to have a their own real child _and_ a pet-kid, so they returned him.

To his second family, he was a dog. No more than that. And still, it was ok. Their children loved him,  e specially the girl. She used to dress him in prickly doll dresses and make him have tea with her , while the two boys had  treated him like  a retriever. It wasn’t as good as before, but they loved him, and the mum used to cuddle him and stay with him until he fell asleep, telling stories and making sure he was warm and safe. He felt safe.

Then his senses increased, and he wasn’t able to control them anymore. He couldn’t avoid listening things he shouldn’t be able to hear, and all the noises he caught were driving him crazy. He spent his days curled under the writing desk they had in the living room, with his hands pressed over his ears, screaming in pain. He scared them, and they abandoned him in an alley. He was in trouble, and it was _his_ fault.

It wouldn’t have been the last time he acted like a dog, but he couldn’t imagine he would become _that kind_ of dog. 

And now he was here, not knowing exactly where “here” was, waiting for something he didn’t know yet. Matt forced himself to stop drinking. He didn’t know if or when they would replace it, so he had to save water for later. He sit  up  and discovered he had been covered with a soft blanket. 

_Heartbeat_. 

He threw the blanket away. They wouldn’t take it away if they thought he wasn’t going to use it, but they would to punish him if they thought he actually liked it.

He  also needed  to test this guy, see if he could take some advantage from him. He jumped and leaned against the wall, jumping on him as soon as he took a step into the room.

* * *

The guy had woken up, eventually.

He was attacking Foggy in a way that wasn’t exactly desperate or rough. The guy knew how to move. Like, ninja skills or something like that.

Foggy found himself completely unable to move a single muscle, his body totally held down by the guy he had saved. Ok, maybe he wasn’t what people called a fighter. He knew no kung-fu or capoeira or one of the billion of martial arts with cool names associated with them, and he usually was very careful to not put himself in trouble but, geez, he was still bigger than this skinny boy, surely stronger than him, considering the kid was sick with fever.

Still, he couldn’t move.

He tried to think fast, and as soon as he guessed the reason of the assault, he wanted to kick his own ass. Of course this kid was scared to death.

He had fallen down from a building, probably after being on the run for quite a while, and he had found himself locked into an escape-proof room of an abandoned nuthouse. 

He could try to reassure him with words. He was good with words.

“Hey. Hey. Easy, man. I don’t want to hurt y…”

Apparently, he didn’t have enough energy to knock him out and run away. 

The kid’s body went suddenly limp, and he collapsed a second after that, out cold.

Foggy freed himself from him, trying to be as gentle as possible, but he didn’t place him back on the mattress. He had managed to steal some sheets from the laundry and he took the chance to make up a sort of bed. 

Only after that Foggy dragged the guy over it, making sure he was warm. He noticed he had drunk half of the water in the bottle, so he replaced it with a new one, full and still fresh from the fridge, even if the room was actually pretty cold by itself.

He should take that camp heater he had seen in his father’s shop storage room to heat this place. It was winter, no one goes camping in the  winter, right? His dad wouldn’t even notice it was missing, would he?

He gave his watch a quick look. It was nearly 7AM. He still had some time before going back home for breakfast. He checked him over and treated him with the snow again.

This time, he moaned and shifted under his touch.

“Shh. It’s ok. It’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you, ok? You are safe here” he tried to keep his voice even and reassuring, just in case he fully woke up, but he went back to sleep almost immediately.

* * *

His eyes snapped open as a reflex.

He was suddenly fully aware of what he had done.

He shouldn’t have done that. 

What the fuck had been thinking? Attacking his guardian had been a terrible mistake, along with thinking he could take advantage of him using his capabilities.

“Hey… easy, man. Breathe.” 

The voice was young, very young. His heartbeat was fast and strong. It was faster than the ones he was used to. He wasn’t an adult. He was a kid, or, more likely, a barely legal teen. It wasn’t the first time he had to deal with  teenagers,  and he hated them. They were rough, and they couldn’t fully keep control of their  bodies . Every time he had to serve them, it had ended up with him hurt too bad to be used  for a while . Of course,  _ he _ was also the one punished for his incapability to bear them.

They were also the meanest people around, usually. If they weren’t very popular at school, or if they wanted to show off during class the next day, the could easily find every single way to hurt and humiliate him. 

Matt shivered. 

It wasn’t enough he had attacked a master. No. It had to be  one of the teenagers. 

_ Shit. Shit. ShitShitShitShitShitShitShit. _

As a hand reached for his shoulder, he snapped away from it, hiding himself under something that looked like a small desk, or something similar to it, anyway. He brought his knees up to his chest and hid his face in his legs, arms hugging them as  tight  as possible.

He shouldn't have done _this_ too.

He was in trouble. 

He shivered again, both from fear and cold and stayed there, perfectly still. 

“Hey… kid? What’s up?” the voice asked, quietly, but he could hear his heart. “Come out from there, it’s cold and you have a fever… Come on, buddy” 

He was pretending to sound calm, but  his heart  was racing.  The teen  was trying to drag him out with  false gentleness .

Matt considered his options.

He could resist, fight back, until  the boy  called some real adults who would drag him out and beat the shit out of him, or he could surrender and just hope he would be able to sit  when his punishment was over.

Walking on his hands and knees as they had taught him, he slowly came out, desperately trying to stop his body from trembling. 

“There you are… it’s ok. It’s ok,” the voice kept his reassuring tone, and Matt decided the best thing he could do to save himself was to apologize.

Still on his knees, he bent forward so low  his forehead touched the ground, his hands palm down  beside his ears. Then he yapped as he was taught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Franklin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t possible. He was going mad. There was no other explanation.  
> He didn’t just hear this guy performing a perfect imitation of the yap of a little puppy, and he definitely wasn’t kneeling in front of him in some kind of plea for… forgiveness?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really, I don't know what to say. I didn't expect such a wonderful response to this story, not so soon anyway.  
> Really, thank you so much to everyone stopped by and read this story, you are all amazing!  
> Thank Citlali for being an amazing beta! Every error left it's totally my fault!
> 
> Happy reading!  
> Cookies, comments, whatever is appreciated!

That morning, he left him still passed out on the mattress, and when he came back after school, he was still asleep. Eventually, while he was replacing the snow, he had opened his eyes… and rushed away from him at such a speed he couldn’t believe could be possible for a human being. 

It was also impossible how he could physically fit into that small closet with broken doors, the only other furniture still intact in the room. It was dark brown, and smaller than the desk he had in his bedroom, with a tiny wall splitting it in two equal parts. There was no way someone could force himself inside of it without breaking or dislocating one or more bones. Yet, this guy  did it easily, and now he was using it as a shelter, shaking like a leaf. 

Eventually,  after  using the most reassuring words he could  think of , the boy came out, just before Foggy started feeling claustrophobic for him. 

He was crawling on his all four, but Foggy didn’t notice that at the beginning. It would be very hard (ok impossible) coming out from that thing on your feet, so he considered it normal, at least until...

No. This _wasn’t_ happening. Definitely not.

It wasn’t possible. He was going mad. There was no other explanation.

He _didn’t just hear_ this guy performing a perfect imitation of the yap of a little puppy, and he definitely wasn’t  _ kneeling _ in front of him in some kind of plea for… forgiveness? No he wasn’t just kneeling. He was also imitating the posture of a dog that knows it had done something wrong and prays with his eyes not to be punished.

A shiver  ran down his spine.

He was sixteen, and had already seen porn movies on the internet. That’s where he had seen that pose. Sex slaves. He knew they existed, but they were adults, and the y choose to do that. They were actors, just like Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts. 

He wanted to throw up his lunch. He couldn’t believe someone could adopt a kid just for that kind of purpose in his mind.

And how was he supposed to deal with that? 

_ Calm down, Foggy. Maybe he was just used to imitat _ _ ing _ _ a real dog for his former family.  _ He told himself.

And yes, he knew sometimes rich families trained pet-kid to act like dogs, or servants, or both, just for fun. For this reason, animal shops had begun to sell leashes and human-sized dog kennels long ago, back in 40s, when pet-kid adoptions had begun to be more popular because of all the children who had lost their parents in the war. Foggy felt sick anytime he saw a pet-kid treated like that, but most of them seemed to be happy about their life, probably because a family that treat you like a spoiled dog is still better than no family at all. 

Actually, there were people that love d their pets more than their relatives. Foggy had always believed his grandma loved her fat cat more than him and his sister, Candace.

He took a deep, calming breath before speaking again.

“Hey … it’s ok. It’s ok. Calm down… no need to apologize” he tried to reassure the guy, and to prove his point he slowly reached out his right hand to help him sit, moving as he would was in front of a scared animal. 

He didn’t expect his reaction, though. The boy curled even more on himself, almost making a perfect ball and started whining and yapping again, trembling with fear. 

Foggy stepped back immediately, his hand up in the air. He just wanted him to stop his… plea? Whine?. It was breaking his heart, and definitely wasn’t helping his stomach keeping the lunch inside. “No… no hey. I’m sorry. I’m sorry… ok? Just… calm down. Hey, look at me. Look at me. I’m not going to hurt you…” Foggy rushed, trying and almost failing in keeping his voice low and calm.

The boy finally raised his head, and Foggy wondered if he had done that just because it had sounded like a n order, then decided he didn’t really matter, at least for now. If it was useful to make him understand he didn’t want to hurt him, it was worth  it . Every word or thought died in his mind as he saw his unfocused gaze, his eyes not fully  meeting his, the pupil dilated even if the place was well  lit by the sun.

“Are you… blind?” he couldn’t help ask. The boy shivered even more,  another yap coming from his lips. Another stab in Foggy’s chest. “Ok. Ok. Got it. Can you tell me what your name is?”

* * *

This was a new game even for him, who in the last two years had been the main character of more scenarios he could (wanted) to remember.

Should he really be pretending to not know what his name was or that he was blind?

He didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t sort out what this guy wanted from him, his own heartbeat so fast to be almost deafening. 

Yapping didn’t work on him, even if he had stopped trying to touch him, at least for now. Maybe that was what he wanted, making him yap, whine, and bark until he would eventually get so upset he would speak, so he could have the chance to beat him for talking.

The more he tried to do something, anything to help himself, the more his fear rose, making him tremble even worse as a reflex. This guy wasn’t his guardian, he didn’t know what he wanted from him and he seemed unable to figure that out to o .  

He was also cold, so cold, and fever prevented him from thinking clearly enough to find a way out of this.

He curled even more on himself when something descended upon him, biting his lips to not yap again. He took a while to understand it was warm and soft. A blanket. 

He stayed still, desperately trying to not grab and wrap it all around his body. He didn’t let him to know he liked it, or he would take it away.

The guy didn’t try to touch him again, luckily. Matt could feel him sit down as far away as possible from him. “Ok…” he sighed eventually, and Matt shivered again with fear, because he knew punishment would come. Nothing good had ever come from a sigh. “I get you are scared, ok? So, if you want… you can go back into that closet, if you like it so much… if it makes you feel safe…”

This wasn’t an order, it was permission. But, it could still be a trap, a way to test if he was willing to run away again from his owners if he had the chance to, so he yapped again, head down, but didn’t move a muscle. 

“Hey… it’s ok. You are safe now…” 

Matt didn’t believe him. He knew this game. He had taken the bait a lot of times before in the past two years, and they had lead him to new, terrible games. 

Jeans moving as the teenager stood up. He tried not to flinch at that, but he didn’t try come close to him. He just spoke again.

“Ok, listen… I have to go now, but I’ll leave you an apple and a new bottle of water. There’s also a  tablet of Tylenol  to the right of the bottle. Take it, It’ll help  bring down fever. I’ll be back later  tonight , ok?”

Matt didn’t dare to move. Alone. He was leaving him alone. 

He didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Alone he could take some rest, but it wasn’t a warranty that anyone else wouldn’t come and play with him.

“Mm… by the way… my name is Foggy… I mean… It’s Franklin, actually, but everyone calls me Foggy… so… ok. See you later…”

As soon as the guy left, Matt wrapped himself into the blanket and reached for the apple. He hadn’t eaten anything  for so long and his stomach was begging for food. He also took the pill, because that was an easy order to follow. No one had never told him not to eat, so it couldn’t be a trap, or, at least that was what he told himself as he bit the fruit.

It was fresh and juicy. God, it was delicious! 

He sipped half of the water with the pills, then lied on the mattress, trembling with the cold, but taking the blanket off and leaving it on the floor beside him. He knew he would probably fall asleep, and he didn’t want them to find out he was using it.

* * *

 

“Stop ignoring me, Franklin!”

Foggy startled when Rosalind suddenly shouted that order. He hadn’t realized he was totally missing what was happening around the table. They were having supper, but his mind kept going back on the asylum. It had started snowing again earlier that evening, about an hour after he had left the boy and come back home, and the temperature had dropped.

He wasn’t worried about the cold, though, not only about that, at least. 

That kid was completely freaked out, and Foggy had no clue about what to do to try and calm him down, and his heart sank every time he made that sound… The yapping thing. 

Someone might have trained him acting like a dog, doing such a good job with that it had become his first instinct. Foggy wandered if he could still talk.

“Franklin!”

Shit. He got distracted. Again.

“I’m sorry, Rosalind” he apologized, stubbornly refusing to call her mom like she’d wanted. He couldn’t do that. Anna was his mom, the one who had always been there for him when he was scared or sick, or when he needed her. Rosalind was just the one who  gave birth to him and now, fifteen years late r , wanted to play the good mommy, without thinking about his and Anna’s feelings. He would not help her hurt his family. Ever.

“ _ Mom _ ” she corrected, and Foggy literally bit his tongue to not snap at her. “Now, will you listen to me?”

He suppressed a sigh and nodded, but he already knew what she would say. She kept complaining about everything: the way he dressed ( _“I’m a lawyer, Franklin, and you are studying in one of the best schools in New York, you can’t go there dressed in baggy hoodies and running shoes ”_ ), the way he used to study ( _“Study requires silence, how can you study listening to the music?”_ ) and other things like that. Her speech was pretty much the same  e very evening, and he usually tried to defend himself and his family, but tonight he stayed quiet, letting her talk  and  looking forward the moment he could get up and rush back to the asylum again. He wanted to be sure the kid was okay and bring him more warm clothes and, of course, some food.

Eventually, Rosalind finished her spiel and he could go upstairs, mumbling something about homework, which wasn’t exactly a lie. He had neglected it a little bit for that kid and he should really stay at home and study, but how could he just sit there where there was a lonely person locked in a cold room, totally freaked out and without food? 

He opened his history books, only to shut it close after a while, when he found himself reading the same line again and again without understanding a single word of it.

He was just wasting time. 

He had to know if he was okay, then he could come back home and study all night long, if necessary.

He stood up and opened his closet. He had a lot of fleece warm sweaters, and the kid was really skinny. Foggy took two of them and an old hoodie that didn’t fit him anymore. He also looked for warm pants and he came up with an awkward yellow fleece pair he didn’t even remember he had bought or why. They were awful, but it seemed the boy was blind, plus, they just had to keep him warm, and they would be perfect for that. He also grabbed the socks his grandma gave him last christmas. They were light green and made with pure wool.

He knew he had already brought him clothes, but forecasts said temperature would get even lower that night, so he figured they wouldn't arm.

Clothes were a solved problem.

Now he had to find a way to filch some real food from the fridge. He knew there were left-overs from the dinner, his mom used to cook always too much food for just the fou… five of them, but he also had to steal them without getting caught by Rosalind.

He didn’t care too much about his stepmom or his dad. They were really good people, and he was sure they would find a way to help that kid, maybe they will also adopt him; but he couldn’t trust Rosalind. Not at all. 

He went down the stairs as quietly as possible, hoping she would be already in her bedroom. She wasn’t in the kitchen, or in the living room (where his parents were watching TV), so he assumed he would be safe for him to grab something and rush back upstairs.

He sighed when he reached his bedroom. Now, the hardest part was done.

He grabbed his history and math books and shoved them into his backpack, along with the supplies, and put on his coat and boots. He could still study there, using a flashlight.

“Mom” he called opening the door “I’m going to study by Alex. I won’t be late”

“Okay, Foggy” Anna answered.

“You are not going anywhere, Franklin” 

And Foggy froze. Rosalind.

_ Shit _ .

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 will be published next week! Sadly, I have to study for an exam, which is on Wednesday and I'm so freaket out I can't even write properly, so I prefer to wait and fix it!   
> Sorry for the errors in these notes, too!  
> Stay tuned!


	4. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He let a frustrated groan escape out if his lips, and bit them the moment after.  
> Never, never groan.  
> Good dogs didn’t groan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody!  
> Thank you so much for your comments, you are the best! Really! I'm really glad you like this story so far, and thanks to Citlali for being an amazing beta!!
> 
> WARNING!!!! There is a bit that is definitely M-rated, I put it in a quote, in both bold and italic. You can skip that part, if you want, that's why I made sure it's easy to spot!
> 
> If you like this, please leave a comment or a cookie...  
> if you spot something wrong... just tell me, ok?  
> Thank you again!!!

Foggy was allowed to leave his house only the next morning.

Rosalind had stopped him the night before, declaring that if he could study with Alex, then he could do that also in the kitchen, while she supervised his work. It would be also a chance to spend some time together since he usually refused to go everywhere with her. He had tried to argue, saying he had promised Alex to help her with trigonometry, but then his mom out her foot down and he gave in.

He finished his work as fast as he could, stopping himself from snapping or snorting every time Rosalind interrupted to quiz or correct him. 

It was one of the longest nights of his life, and, even worse, he couldn’t bring dinner and warm clothes to the kid. He just hoped his fever hadn’t gotten worse in the meantime.

He woke up at six am and put on a tracksuit. If Rosalind saw him, he could say he had started jogging. He was slightly overweight, as she kept reminding him, so she would probably be happy about that. With his backpack over his shoulders, he ran to the asylum.

 

“It’s me, Foggy” he whispered right before unlocking the door as quietly as possible, hoping to not wake the boy up if he was sleeping.

It turned out he wasn’t quiet enough.

* * *

 

“It’s me” 

The teen, Franklin, had spoken very quietly, but loud enough to startle him awake. He didn’t even think. He pulled himself off of the mattress and hid in the closet again.

It was a very small place, one of the smallest kennels of his whole life as a pet-kid, probably, and it wasn’t an actual kennel, but somehow it made him feel safe, and he was pretty sure he was allowed to stay in there, because Franklin didn’t hit or punish him when he had made him get out of it the day before.

He heard Foggy open the door and come inside. 

“Hey, sorry for yesterday night, my mom forbid me to go out” 

Yesterday night? How much time had passed since he had left? Cautiously, Matt expanded his senses, trying to figure out what time it was. The air was cold, but not the dark cold of night, nor the warmer air at noon. It was kind of humid, actually, and the air smelled of frost. Early morning?

Matt shivered. There could be only one reason that could make a teenager wake up and visit a pet so early in the morning. 

He tried to stop himself, but he couldn’t help curling himself even more into a tight ball.

He didn’t want to do that, not anymore. Never.

“Hey…” Franklin’s voice was low and… concerned? Yes, of course it was. He couldn’t play with him if he was too sick...

He stopped repressing his shivering and let his whole body shake so hard it was surely visible to anyone, a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable. “No… no… Hey…” 

Matt was glad he was keeping his face pressed into his knees, because otherwise it would be nearly impossible to suppress the relieved smile rising on his lips. The guy was overwrought by his reaction, apparently, so he would probably not use him this morning.

He stayed still, still trembling, paying attention to what Franklin was doing. “Shit, you must be freezing…” there was the sound of a zipper pulled open.

No. No. Nononononononono.

He had made the worst mistake ever. He had shown his weakness, not thinking how people loved to “take care” of a wounded pet.

He didn’t want that. He couldn’t do that. Not again. Not when he was sick.

 

>   
>  **_He had a fever since the day before, and had tried to make his guardians understand how sick he felt without speaking, because dogs didn’t speak and he was only their pretty pretty dog._ ** **_He had been quiet all day, refusing food, but all became clear when the man had forced him to eat from his hand and he had thrown everything up over the luxurious persian carpet he was lying on. His guardians were angry about the mess he made, but when the man hit his face for the first time he finally understood the real reason. His pet was too warm, he was sick._ ** **_They didn’t treat him, and they didn’t call the vet, even if they loved taking him to the vet and having him checked over, not immediately, at least. They hosted a party, and Matt had been used for hours, too weak for doing anything but whining and yapping miserably. For the first time since all that had begun, he didn’t fight, and they were so happy the next day he was allowed to stay quiet into his kennel._ ** **_He had spent the night vomiting._ **  
> 

 

Franklin was coming closer to him, his heart furiously pounding in his chest. Was he angry? Aroused? Matt couldn’t discern the feelings, his brain distracted by how cold it was. 

Franklin pulled him out and started undressing him.

* * *

 

This wasn’t what Foggy wanted when he came here that morning, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Apparently, the guy had spent most of the night wearing nothing but the hoodie and pants he had dressed him in the day before, hiding in the closet, and those clothes were not even close to what it was needed to stay warm. The blanket was cold and humid, a hint that he hadn’t use that to keep himself warm either. He also spotted a wet corner as far away as possible from both the closet and the mattress. Right. He didn’t think about that earlier, how could he be so stupid? Maybe, Rosalind was right when she told him he would never be someone. The apple was still there, half eaten, but, luckily, the pills were gone. 

He tried to speak with him, to give him the blanket, but the boy was completely not responsive, curled into a shaking whining ball.

In the end, perfectly conscious that he was going to freak the guy out more than he already was, he grabbed him by his arm and pulled him out, hoping that the sick boy wouldn’t assault him like he did before.

He didn’t.

“I’m sorry, kid, but I have to”

The boy stayed perfectly still… until Foggy started to undress him to change his clothes, wet with feverish sweat, into new and warmer ones. 

The kid started yapping loudly, desperately, his unfocused eyes full of tears begging him to stop. He didn’t fight him back, though; he stayed still until he was naked. 

* * *

 

Matt didn’t fight, he was forcing himself not to, but he couldn’t help the desperation, the fear in his cry while he was being undressed. Then the hands left him, and he knew he had lost this battle. He had to endure all of this. Maybe, after that Franklin would allow him to dress again and leave him alone, but only if he was good. He knew how it worked.

He knelt, hands behind his back, head down, and waited for him to return.

“Hands up” Franklin said suddenly, voice harsh and low. What kind of game was this? Matt didn’t know, but he didn’t dare disobey. Maybe he wanted to lift him up like some friends of his guardians, who enjoied having him suspended in the air, feet toward the ceiling. He waited.

Nothing happened. Nothing bad, at least.

* * *

 

No. He couldn’t bear this. 

Foggy stared at the kid, completely naked, kneeling in the middle of the room in an unequivocal pose. He felt something moving unpleasantly inside his stomach. The kid looked terrified and there were tears falling from his eyes. 

He knew he couldn’t lie to himself anymore; there was no way this boy was only used to act like a dog. 

Ignoring the nausea, he reached for a long sleeved t-shirt and dressed him with that, followed by a second hoodie and, at the top of everything, the fleece sweater. The kid stopped his cry, but he didn’t move; he seemed too astonished for doing anything but staying there.

“Hands down” he ordered, because apparently it was the only way to make him move, but trying at the same time to keep his voice low and sweet. “Good boy” he praised as him accomplished. “Now, please, just lay down, so I can help you with trousers” 

Five minutes later, the boy was fully dressed again, and Foggy pushed the hood up his head. “Now you’ll be warm, and you’ll be better soon, I promise”.

* * *

 

_ Good boy _ , along with  _ You’ll be better soon _ and  _ I promise, _ could only meant Franklin was playing some kind of weird scenario he couldn’t really understand, but he wasn’t even try to do so, honestly. He didn’t care, not anymore; not when his whole body was threatening to fall apart completely.

The mind controls the body. Stick had taught him. Bullshit. 

He stayed still, waiting for the next command.

Except that it never came. Franklin took him into his arms and he found himself on the mattress, while a blanket wrapped him, though he could sense the guardian was trying not to touch him.

What the hell was happening? What was Franklin thinking? That if he treated him nice he would start trusting him? And then what? Enjoying his betrayal laughing at him? Nope. He wasn’t going to take the  bait, not matter how good it felt to be in clean clothes.

Still, his training took the lead, and Matt raised his head to get close to Franklin’s hand and gave him a small lick to say thank you.

His heartbeat started racing again and Matt froze. He didn’t know what he had done wrong this time.

* * *

 

Ok, this looked bad. 

He was really licking his hand? What the hell?

Foggy froze, completely unable to react at all. What was he supposed to do? 

And then the guy shifted rising up so his face could reach his… nope. 

Nope. No.

_ No. Fucking. Way. _

Foggy’s reaction was pure instinct. He put his hands on the guy’s shoulder and shoved him away as strong as he could. He fell on his back, hitting hard the floor with a whine of pain, then crawled into the corner, luckily not the one where he had peed before.

Foggy followed him, and his heart sank when the guy covered his head with both his hands, as if he was expecting to be hit.

Foggy didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to hurt him, but he totally acted like a puppy, and he have no idea on how get through to him. He hadn’t ever had a pet before, not even a golden fish! He had no idea what to do with a boy abused to the point that he felt the need to act like an animal.

He took a deep breath he didn’t want to  slap him, but then  maybe he didn’t have to. .

“NO” he shouted instead, his voice high and rude. “Bad boy!”

* * *

 

The hit never came. Franklin was shouting at him, and he knew he had done something wrong. He couldn’t understand. He just wanted to say thank you, and was only trying to figure out  _ how _ to do that. 

When he had refused the lick on his hand, he had thought he maybe wanted to be licked somewhere else, as most of his masters’ friends liked so much, but he refused that too.

He let a frustrated groan escape out if his lips, and bit them the moment after.

Never, _never_ groan.

Good dogs didn’t groan.

Bad dogs that groaned deserved to stay outside until they learnt how to behave. 

_ No, please, no. Not outside. _

Matt started yapping, his forehead to the floor.

_ I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. _

A hand brushed his hair. It was slightly trembling and unsure, but it didn’t seem like it wanted to hurt him. Still, he knew better than trust a guardian. He froze, waiting for the moment Franklin would push away his hesitation and grab his hair, pulling him outside or worse, forcing him to say thank you.

Matt whined. He didn’t want to go outside. Outside was cold.

“It’s ok... I got it. Come here”. The hand shifted from his hair to his hand, pulling him up in a standing position.

Matt couldn’t even think about the fact that dog didn’t  _ walk  _ or _ stand.  _ He found himself falling badly on the ground. He couldn’t stand. Pets don’t stand. His knees and legs felt too weak to support him. It felt unnatural, wrong, frightening. Standing was what people did. Not pets. He’d be punished for sure. His head was spinning. He hadn’t stood up since being taken into the pet kid program and he’d started his training. He remembered the feeling of the straps that had been wrapped around his knees to keep them bent, to help him remember to be a good pet. Was it the fever or the fact he hadn’t stood up since the day he had been adopted by his masters. Probably both. He had tried to stand sometimes since his escape, but he couldn’t take more than three or four steps before falling down, so he kept crawling and running on all fours. It was easier to hide while crawling. His guardian loved to see him run and jump like that. “Oh… ok. Don’t worry… “ Franklin was kneeling beside him, his heart racing again, upset.

Not good. 

But he couldn’t stand. Dogs don’t stand. 

He was trying to get him on his feet so he could punish him, that was sure, but even if he wanted, which he didn’t, he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough. A small whine escaped from his lips.

“No… no. Shh… it’s ok. It’s ok” The hand was back in his hair, gently petting. No one had petted him like that in a long time. It was like with one of his previous families, a very rich one, that adopted him after Stick. 

> _ They chose him because of the training given to him at nine. They wanted a pet for their little child John. They were kind to him and sometimes they let him sleep on the carpet beside the bed, where John could pet him. He was happy with them, it was better than the training center, even if he could only talk during school and John sometimes hurt him while they were playing, but Matt knew he wasn't intentionally mean. Yes, they sent him to school, so he could help John when he would be old enough. Matt loved school enough that he hoped he could learn to be good enough for them to keep him. _
> 
> _ Then, one day, John thought it was a good idea to climb the cherry tree in their garden, and when Matt tried to stop him, they believed he was assaulting him, and the next day he found himself back in a cage.  _

Matt pulled his head back, rising it to reach Franklin’s hand and licked it, hoping he wouldn’t be too mad at him. His heart fluttered, but this time he didn’t push him away.

“Okay, kid. Got it. No walking and let you lick my hand. Okay. I can do that. Come here… let’s go back to your bed, okay?”

Matt didn’t dare fight. He was exhausted and his whole body was screaming for rest and warmth, and, maybe, if he was good, Franklin would wait until he felt better before start using him or bring him back to his masters or do whatever he was planning on doing. He crawled back to the mattress, Franklin helping all the way and pulling the sheets up to his chin. Matt licked his hand again and was reward by a pat over his shoulder.

He heard Franklin sit against the wall and take something out from his bag. It smelled like paper. The scratching of a pencil lulled him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you fo reading!


	5. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He dragged himself closer yet, his face right above the pancakes, holding himself up on his elbows, and dipped down, tongue out, touching the rich syrup.  
> “That’s good.” Foggy urged. Matt shivered. He opened his mouth and found the edge of one of the cakes and took a bite. He waited. Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really want to thank my beta, Citlali for all the work she has done with this chapter. All the best parts are her idea!   
> Thank you so much!
> 
> And thank you, too, readers. You really are amazing and your comments are vitamins for my brain, please, keep telling me what do you think about this!

When Matt opened his eyes, Franklin was still there, but he wasn’t writing anymore. There was a light swish of something against paper and a strange smell coming from it. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it made his nose sting. It took him a while to recognize it: highlighter ink.

“Hey. You awake?” Franklin got up from his spot and came closer. Matt curled on himself, shaking slightly. “You look better” he stated reaching over his hand to touch him, which made him tremble even more.

He didn’t want to be better. He didn’t want to be used. “Oh... no. Hey… look, I’m not going to touch you, ok? No touching. I promise” Matt felt the air move as Franklin backed his hand off and heard his heavy steps. He was going back to his corner, making sure he could hear him; he was away from him, but Matt couldn’t force himself to relax. “Kid, I’ve brought you something to eat. It’s just some pasta and by now it’s cold, but I didn’t want to wake you up when I came back from school… so… yeah… I put it near your lef… no sorry, that’s my left… your right side. You really should eat it”

Matt didn’t want to eat it. He wasn’t hungry, but that was some kind of order, and good dogs always obeyed orders. 

He smelled the tomato and the pasta together with the plastic container. It seemed big enough for him to eat easily. It also was already open and he repressed a relieved sigh. Opening it would be humiliating, and it never ended good when he had to open things. He kneeled and put his mouth into the container.

He wanted to cry. It was real human food.

* * *

 

What the hell?

Okay, Foggy had forgotten to tell him there also was a fork but he was pretty sure that wasn’t the reason why he was putting his mouth into the dish like a… dog eating from his bowl.

He took a deep breath, trying to not scream. 

It wasn’t the boy’s fault. He didn’t choose that.

But that didn’t mean Foggy had to like what was happening. He turned around, facing the other direction, and put his headphones on, the music loud enough to cover the sound of the boy’s chewing. He couldn’t watch him like this. Not at all.

Still, not liking it was different than not caring. The boy also had to drink, so Foggy looked for something he could use as a saucer to lick water from.. There was nothing on hand, and so he ended up using the plastic container he’d brought in after the boy finished eating. 

“Sorry, man” he apologized “He didn’t… I mean… yesterday you drank from the bottle so… yeah… I’ll bring you something better tomorrow. I promise.”

He studied the closet as the boy drank using his tongue. It was small and it also looked quite cold, but he seemed to like it and, at least for now, he just wanted to calm him down, and if letting him act like a dog was what the boy needed, well Foggy would play along. “Hey, bud…” he stopped. He couldn’t say ‘buddy’, it sounded too much like a dog name “Hey” he started over “I was thinking… since you seem to like this… what about we place a blanket in the closet for you to lay on? Make it warmer and more comfortable?”

The guy seemed at least interested at that. He rose his head and looked at him. The gaze was unfocused, and the boy’s eyes settled on a spot to Foggy’s left. Yes, he definitely was blind as he had thought. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll do that tomorrow, ok?”

He noticed he wasn’t listening to him anymore, he squirmed a bit, keeping his legs pressed together as if … yeah, of course he had  _ needs _ . “Hey, wanna go out and… mmm do your things? I’m sure there is a bathroom somewhere in here”

* * *

 

Go out? _No, please no_. 

It was so cold… and he didn’t want to be naked outside. He didn’t know were they were, but being naked didn’t seem a good idea. Still, he couldn't do anything with his pants on.  


He rushed in the corner and rolled onto his side and dragged himself along the floor for a few feet until he felt the waistband of his sweatpants pull down around his hips, and then used one foot to hook into the fabric bunched around his knee and stretched, effectively pulling down his pants. Then he peed. 

Success! 

Matt breathed a sigh of relief, proud of his achievement. He did good, he didn’t use his hands at all. The teenager would be…

Not impressed? That wasn’t fair. Matt was trying to be good. He didn’t want to wet his pants. He didn't want to be beaten for making a mess. 

He sensed Franklin turn away, not for the first time, but that was what dogs did (if they got the honor to be dressed), and Matt was trying to be a good pet. If he were good, maybe they would be not become mean with him. 

“Oh, come on” Franklin sighed, his heart racing “You can’t do that here!” 

Matt whined as he got closer. He could never do anything right, and now the teenager was upset with him for doing what he was supposed to do. Still with his pants down, because he didn’t have time to wiggle them back up again, he crept back to the mess on the floor and leaned forward. Maybe if he did it willingly, the teenager would forgive him. His masters preferred when he did things by himself. 

He whined loudly, caught completely off guard, when a hand grabbed the hood of his sweater and pulled him up and away, dragging him all the way over to the mattress. Franklin was standing in front of him “NO!” he yelled. “Bad boy!”

Matt panicked. Franklin was  _ impossible _ . He couldn’t figure what he wanted from him, everything his masters appreciated the most, he seemed to hate it. He ran and hid back into the cold wood of the closet.

He listened to Franklin as he took deep breaths, his heart still pounding in his ears, but he didn’t sound like he was angry, he sounded like he was distressed. Matt waited, not daring to move or make a sound.

“Shit… I’m sorry, boy. I didn’t want to scare you” He was surprised by the even tone of his voice “But, you don’t have to do that, ok? I’ll clean it when I come back. And when you’ll feel better, I’ll take you to the bathroom, ok? And I want you to try and tell me if you need to go, ok? I don’t know how, just… find a way, ok…” 

The teenager bent forward, his hands near Matt’s thighs. Matt cringed, but all he did was pull the sweatpants up around his waist. 

_What_? Matt felt like he received a caress instead of a punch straight at his face. He didn’t like this game, it was confusing him, and he felt constantly on the edge. Not knowing how to behave to avoid punishment was driving him mad. 

What did dogs do to make their owners know they wanted to go out? He had to think about his time with that lovely rich family to remember it. 

Door.

Yeah, there was a wicket gate on the back door of the house. He could walk through that and going out. He focused and reached for the door, feeling the draft in the gap between the door and the floor and sat in front of it, then turned toward Franklin. 

“That’s… good. Ok. Got it.”

Matt nudged Franklin's leg with his head,, then returned to the container with the water. Of course, if he was alone he could use his hands for drinking and eating (they had never punished him for that), but not in front of his masters or their friends. He didn’t like drinking like this, he hated it, It took too long, and masters always got impatient before he could finish. “Hey, here. Let me help.”

Franklin was opening a bottle, and he felt the neck of it touching his lips “Come on. Drink. It’s ok. I’m giving it to you. It’s ok” his voice was reassuring, his heartbeat steady and calm. He wasn’t lying. It was ok to drink like that. He could eat or drink by his masters’ hands, as long as he used only his mouth. He welcomed the cold liquid in his throat and sipped as much as he could. He didn’t know how long this would last. Teenager always tired of their games quickly. Franklin would not exception. “Good kid. That’s good” A hand brushed against his forehead, gentle and warm “Your fever seems to be gone but take this anyway” He opened his mouth and Franklin placed a pill on his tongue “Let’s make sure you keep getting better, ok? So we can go out for a walk or find a bathroom”.

Matt went back into his kennel. Franklin was nice, but he felt safer in there.

*******

It was only When Franklin left a few hours later, with the promise to be back the day after, that Matt let himself out of the kennel and laid on the mattress, under the warm blanket.

*******

When Matt woke up the next morning, Franklin wasn’t there, but his scent was stronger than the night before, so he supposed he passed by before going to school. There were other smells around him as well. New smells. 

He sniffed the air. Was that… milk and… cookies? 

No. 

They were just outside his kennel, an unmistakable signal they really were for him. 

But they couldn’t be, could they?

There was also a pill. 

How long had it been since he’d been given food like this? 

Was it a trick? Matt knew about being tricked. 

He knew those games, when the masters would put food out for him and make him wait. Make him sit and not come closer until they said he was allowed to. And then punished him because he punished him, because pets weren't never allowed to eat human food.  


Was that what this was? Was Franklin testing him to see how good of a pet he could be? How obedient? The smell of the cookies was overwhelming, making his mouth water. Chocolate chips?

He eased his way carefully out of the kennel. Heart pounding. Listening closely. He sniffed the cookies again. His stomach ached for them. He swallowed convulsively. 

He shouldn’t.  

He took the pill instead, because that was something he knew for sure had been left for him. He worked up some saliva in his mouth and swallowed it down, a bitter taste left on his tongue. 

_ The cookies.  _

He touched the plate tentatively and jumped back. Nothing happened. 

Of course nothing happened, he chided himself. It wasn’t boobytrapped. But what if the teenager had left a videocamera? What if he was watching from somewhere hidden? Matt couldn’t sense anything that hadn’t been there before. Other than the cookies. And the milk. 

He touched the cookies again, this time leaving his hand on it for a few seconds. Nothing happened. No one barged in. No one started screaming at him. 

He picked it up. Smelled it again. It smelled so good. Matt licked his lips. He took a small bite and waited. Still nothing. 

Matt quickly shoved the entire cookie in his mouth, devouring it greedily, quickly before anyone could stop him. 

Still nothing happened. 

He took another. Eating it just as fast. And another. 

Until there was only one left. The last one. That one he savoured.

He tried a sip of milk. It was in a bowl, but Matt took the chance and picked it up with his hands and brought it up to his lips. The milk tasted cool and fresh. Smooth. The combination of milk and chocolate tasted like being someone’s son again, and for a second he even caught a faint ghostly whiff of his dad’s aftershave. But no. He couldn’t let his mind go there.  

He ate and drank contently, savoring the food as though it was the richest of the meals. In two days, two human meals. Matt felt like he could die right now and go straight to Hell without a second thought. Franklin was feeding him  _ for real.  _

_ Don’t be so happy _ . He reminded himself.  _ Remember your past.  _

It was just a game. Franklin was just making sure he could start punishing and using him as soon as possible, and real medicine and real food would help.

He crawled into his kennel… and… what? Was that… a fuzzy blanket? He used his hand and felt the inner side of the closet. Franklin had kept his word and made it more warm and comfortable. Matt nuzzled into it, a whine of happiness escaping from his lips.

*******

Foggy arrived a few hours later, and Matt patted his hand against  the door whining loudly as he heard his steps from the outside, already without his pants on. He really needed to go out. 

“Hey… hey. Okay. Okay. Let’s go” if Franklin was caught off guard by the way he had been welcomed, he didn’t show. Matt sat and waited for his collar and leash. Franklin was simply staring at him, not moving to take them out of his backpack. Matt knew the rules of this game. He wasn’t going to pee like an untrained puppy or rushing out of the room unleashed. If Franklin wanted to punish him, he could punish him for eating the cookies and milk and it would be worth it. But he wasn’t going to be punished for this. 

“Hey, what are you waiting for, kid? Let’s go” 

Matt didn’t move. He remembered the last time he dared to go out without his leash. That lesson had left scars. 

“Come on, k… wait. Do you need a leash?” 

There was a pause, then a hand grabbed his hood firmly. “I don’t have anything like a leash right now, so… I’m using your hood. Now, let’s go. You seem on the verge of wetting yourself.”

Matt barely made it out of the room before finding an appropriate corner and letting his bladder release. He shivered. Were they far enough from the room? Would Franklin be mad? “Hey… you really needed it” a statement, not angry or disappointed. Matt tentatively prodded Franklin’s leg with his head. “Yeah. You did good, kid… Let’s get back to the room so you can put your pants back on”.

Franklin also had food for him. He didn’t even say anything about the empty plate and bowl from earlier, and Matt licked his hand encouragingly when he offered to feed him by hand. Franklin might turn on him at any time, but for now he was being a kind master and Matt would get whatever privilege offered so long as the kindness lasted. Being able to eat properly and human food was definitely a privilege Matt was eager to exploit.

After that, Franklin declared he would just stay there and study, and Matt went into his kennel, his mind still trying to figure out what was hidden behind all that kindness.

Why was he doing all this? He seemed like he was trying to treat him like a human. 

Then he understood, finally.

That was his masters’ game: they wanted him to believe to be safe to start acting like a regular person, just so they could train him again. He knew he couldn’t bear that. He couldn’t go through all that again.

He would escape. He didn’t know how or when, but he would, and Franklin better not be in his way. And if he failed, then there would be no more pet to play with. He wouldn’t go back to living like that. He was done with that life. For good.

*******

That night, Franklin came back when the sun was already set.

“Dinner” he declared. “It’s still warm. Come here, kid” 

Matt obliged, because it was a direct order, he was hungry, and the food smelled so damn good his stomach grumbled. “Hey…” Franklin began as he fed him using a fork (because lasagna was difficult to handle) and his heartbeat changed. Matt barely suppressed a sigh. He knew what was coming. “I was thinking… you know… since…” 

_No_. Matt found himself praying in his mind, not that praying ever did him any good in the past. _No, please… no…_

“You clearly don’t feel like talking… but… I don’t like calling you kid, or boy so… until you give me your name…I’m going to choose a name for you” 

Matt lowered his head, still praying for some way to stop what was inevitably coming next, then his brain processed his words. Wait. What? A name?

If Franklin was working with his masters, then he knew his name, of course he did, why would he pick up something else? “I’m going to call you Leonard. Leo, for short”

A  _ human _ name? Matt listened very carefully, trying to spot the lie, the trick behind the words. Nothing. He totally seemed genuine. “It’s from Leonard McCoy from Star Trek.” Franklin stopped suddenly. “Am I really trying to explain to you why you need a name? I’m sure you already have a name, and I’m sorry, but until you tell me what it is, I need to call you something. McCoy is my favorite character. Do you know who Bones is on Star Trek? Anyway, until you tell me otherwise, Leonard it is. Do you like it?”

Matt barked.

*******

Eventually, the visits became routine. 

Franklin showed up early in the morning, bringing breakfast and taking him outside for his needs, then he came back in the afternoon, and sometime he stopped in during the evening.

Whenever Franklin was there, Matt stayed in the closet. Franklin sometimes told him he could stay wherever he wanted, and he didn’t seem too upset if he just stayed in there. 

Matt was recovering pretty fast, but he didn’t think he could escape yet. The fever was gone, but it had left him weak and Tylenol mess with his senses, He wasn’t ready, yet. The lack of food over the last three weeks didn’t help either. He had lost most of his strength, and he wasn’t surprised when Franklin told him he found him passed out in an alley. That explained a lot. The teenager must have called his masters, and had been rewarded with allowing him to play with him for a while. 

Anyway, he needed time (and proper food like the kind Franklin was feeding him with) to recover. 

When he was alone, Matt tested himself. He ran back and forth across his room on his hands and feet, but he found himself out of breath after only a few minutes. He was also working on relearning how to stand again, with no luck at all. Even when he managed to reach his full height, he couldn’t last more than a few seconds before his knees gave in, and he fell back on the floor, more frustrated and angry than before.

He couldn’t leave like this. If he wanted to stay free, he had to be able to blend in with crowds. He had to stay hidden until he turned eighteen and was free from the pet-kid system. 

Franklin’s steps brought him back to reality, and he ran back into his kennel. 

“Hey, Leo! Good morning!” 

It was always startling to hear Franklin's voice. He sounded loud and cheerful, and Matt couldn't stop from feeling somewhat good when he heard it. He didn't want to like the teenager's voice, even though it meant food and water, cookies, and blankets. Franklin hadn't hurt him yet, but he would. They always do. Matt tried to equate it with his Mistress's voice instead. She was loud and cheerful too. Especially when she had a new game she wanted to play.  He hugged his knees tighter as a shiver ran down his spine 

“Uhm… sorry, Leo” Franklin always seemed to know when he was upset, because he spoke softly, trying to calm him down. “Here… come here. Breakfast. Do you like pancakes?” 

Pancakes? Matt knew he probably shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help himself. Franklin hadn’t lied to him yet, and pancakes smelled so good.

He carefully crept out of his kennel and waited. 

“Come on, Leo, it’s okay. Come have some pancakes. Yum. Good.”

Matt’s heart was pounding as he crawled closer. So close he could almost taste them already. There was even syrup. Real maple syrup. 

“It’s okay, you can do it.” Franklin called out softly. 

Matt lowered himself down so far his belly touched the ground. Franklin wanted him to eat. He just said. He whined,  _ please _ . He flinched as a hand gently touched his head. 

“Come eat.” Franklin said again. “No one is going to hurt you.” 

_ Yes. Everyone wants to hurt me _ . Matt thought.  _ You will too _ . But he pulled himself a little closer yet, his nose touched the plate. 

Franklin didn’t hit him. 

He dragged himself closer yet, his face right above the pancakes, holding himself up on his elbows, and dipped down, tongue out, touching the rich syrup. 

“That’s good.” Foggy urged.  Matt shivered. He opened his mouth and found the edge of one of the cakes and took a bite. He waited. Nothing. 

 

Matt ate his breakfast as fast as he could, barely chewing, trying to finish it before the boy got tired of feeding him. “Good boy” Franklin praised him. “Bathroom?”

_ Oh, God. Yes, please. _

He whined and waited for Foggy to take off his pants and grab the hoodie. When they came back, Matt noticed he didn’t lock the door. “Leo? Can you open the door?” 

What?  

“Leo, if you can, please, open the door” 

An order? Okay. Matt could do that. Of course he could open a door. He crawled to the door and used his head to find the handle, before using his mouth and closed hand to open it. He wasn’t going to get tricked by this. His pinky finger was still crooked and sore from the last time he’d been punished for using his fingers. They’d threatened him that next time it wouldn’t just be a few broken bones. Matt remembered. He’d been more careful since then. He could still use his fingers when no one was watching, he didn’t want that taken away from him. 

“Perfect” Foggy smiled. “I’m going to leave the door unlocked during the day, since you seem to be better, so you can go out whenever you want… or you can leave, if you feel like.”

No, that didn’t make sense. Matt couldn’t believe him. This wasn’t happening. This was just another cruel game, another way to punish him for escaping. He rushed back into his kennel. 

No way. 

He would not leave his kennel. 

_Never_. 

Again.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Matt and the open door. And lost Foggy. Stay tuned!


	6. Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything would be over soon.
> 
> The fear would be over.
> 
> He would be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Citlali for being an amazing beta and to all of you readers! 
> 
> I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been a little stuck in a writer block, I hope I'm out of it, now!
> 
> NOTE: A little bit of non-graphic suicidal thoughts in this chapter... 
> 
> Please, let me know what do you think!  
> Every comment, kudos or cookie is appreciated!

When Foggy had thought about leaving the door open, he hadn’t imagined he would make Leo run in the opposite direction as fast as he could. Or that he would not leave the closet (and the room) for a whole two days.

Franklin felt sick… and guilty.

The truth was he had no idea what to do with him. Apparently, Leo had been treated like a dog (or a sex toy, likely both) in the last few years, and Foggy had no idea how to deal with that. At least Leo had been calmer since Foggy had started playing along.. 

There were things Foggy wouldn’t do, though. He couldn’t watch him eat using only his mouth, let alone drink with his tongue, but Leo seemed happy having food. Probably his guardians loved that kind of  thing, because humiliating a kid by forcing him to eat from a bowl wasn’t enough. Foggy hated it. 

Using a leash was out of question. He would never,  _ never _ , not even in a million years, put a collar on another person. The hood had been a compromise, because otherwise Leo would keep peeing in that corner and clean the spot after that, and that was way worse, because… seriously? 

The hand-licking thing was definitely odd, as well as when Leo nudged his leg in the back of his knee, but if he rejected them too he would have no way to know if he was doing something wrong what the hell? Unless he considered panic attacks a no. It would have to do.

Day by day, Foggy noticed an improvement; Leo was eating and drinking more and , he seemed less skittish every time Foggy entered the room. 

It was cruel to keep a person locked into a room, though. Unfortunately, when Foggy had tried to free him and give him the freedom to go out whenever he wanted, it backfired badly. 

It was terrible. 

Leo locked himself into that closet and refused to get out. He stopped accepting food, would only accept water, and whenever Foggy attempted to speak to him, Leo started shaking so hard the furniture moved. 

Foggy felt like shit. He fucked up, and he didn’t know how to fix it. He hoped Leo would calm down on his own eventually. 

 

“Foggy?”

“ Uhm … what?” Alex’s voice brought him back to reality. 

“Were you even listening to me?”

“ Uhm … I… sorry. I… got distracted” he apologized, desperately trying to recall the conversation he was supposed to have with his almost-girlfriend before his mind decided to go his own way. 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Me. You. Brett and Linda. Cinema? Captain America?”

Oh yes. They were talking about some kind of double date. Foggy didn’t like Brett so much, but their moms were close friends and it would be easier for them to get permission to stay out a  little bit longer if they were together, and they both knew that.

“ Mmm . Ok. Let’s do that ” he agreed.

 

After school he went to check on Leo, bringing half of his lunch with him. 

He still went out early in the morning, claiming he had started jogging, and splitting his meal with Leo was getting unexpected results that were definitely helping him  lie to Rosalind.

“It’s me” Foggy whispered before opening the  door, which he left unlocked..

Leo was in his kennel and barely yapped when he came  in . “I brought you lunch. I’ll leave it here, at your right, ok?  Wanna go out?”

A shiver was the only answer he got.

Definitely a no.

“I’m going to clean your corner, ok? It stinks” He stated, pulling out a bottle of bleach solution and a sponge. He cleaned it until he couldn’t smell urine anymore. 

Leo sneezed. “I know. That stinks too, but I couldn’t leave your pee right there ”

The shivering got worse. Leo whined, hiding his face into his knees. “It’s ok. It’s ok. It’s clean now. It’s clean.”

*******

A week passed since that day, and Leo wasn’t making any progress at all. He still refused to eat (or do anything) when Foggy was there.

Foggy didn’t know what to do. He was trying to give him space; he didn’t touch him, not even when helped him to drink; he cleaned his bathroom-corner every single day and brought him clean clothes. but he knew he was reaching his limit.

That shaking human ball he called Leo was a heartbreaking sight. Apparently, he didn’t leave his kennel, not even for sleeping while Foggy was away. He had tried leaving food by the mattress, but found it untouched the next morning, and it took him all his strength to not yell at him. It wasn’t his fault.

Someone had played with him for so long the thought of freedom was driving him crazy. Foggy didn’t dare to think about how anyone could be reduced into that condition, though he remembered how bullies treated people at school, how they sometimes faked to leave them alone just to scare him a moment later. Had his pet-family done something like that to him too?

*******

“Leonard” he said after a week. He sat with his back against the wall, away from the kennel and trying to keep his voice even and calm. A weak, scared whine broke his heart. “I’m sorry, Leo. I truly am” Foggy paused because Leonard was started to shake, then decided he had to move on “I don’t know how to make you understand I’m not that kind of person, that I don’t want to hurt you. I just want you to be better and go your own way when you feel like you’re ready. Please, Leonard” he had to stop one more time, because tears were making hard to keep talking without scaring him. “I… I just can’t… see you… like this. Please… “

* * *

 

Matt was scared to death.

He would never get out from his shelter, no matter how his whole body was aching from keeping that curled position all the time. 

No matter how his nose was overwhelmed by the scent of his own excrement. He stank and his clothes were dirty, but he didn’t care. 

Everything would be over soon.

The fear would be over.

_ He _ would be over.

*******

Franklin came every day, twice or three times. He kept bringing him food and cleaning the corner he used as a bathroom. 

Matt didn’t move when he was there.

He knew Franklin was just waiting for him to make a move, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not at all.

Matt didn’t know what to do when Franklin was around. He had given him permission to go out, he could hear he left the door unlocked every time he went home, but he just couldn’t make himself get out of that kennel. Not that he wanted to, anyway.

He couldn’t hear heartbeats outside the door, not always, at least, but he was sure there would be cameras watching him and that they surely had planned something humiliating. Still,  Frankling wanted him out of that kennel, and staying in there meant disobeying a direct order.

This situation was tearing him apart.

He was exhausted but he couldn’t calm down. His body shuddered the whole time, and it got even worse if Franklin was around and spoke with him, or cleaned his pee. He shouldn’t.

Matt was perfectly able to clean the spot by himself, but apparently Franklin didn’t like when he tried to. Perhaps he was worried that he would smell or taste it when he would use him.

Still, he wasn’t using or hurting him. He barely touched him.

Franklin’s heart raced every time Matt got to close to a panic attack, and after a few days he stopped talking to him, until today.

He didn’t listen to his words so much when he suddenly had started talking. He was using the full name he had given to him, and full names were never a good sign.

Franklin’s body wasn’t sending reassuring signals, either.

Even through his panic, Matt could feel the air moving around it as he trembled, his breath unsteady and his temperature raised. 

Definitely not good.

Than something happened, something that brought him out of his own fear and forced him to focus on Franklin.

“I… I just can’t… see you… like this. Please…  “  sobs. Franklin’s voices broke and the smell of salt filled the air. He was… crying? Matt froze. He couldn’t even shiver anymore, too confused and scared. 

Tears weren’t good either. 

When someone cried, the master usually followed, and pain with him, and that was even worse than being watched and derided through cameras. 

Matt did the only thing he could to  try and save himself. 

Shaking like a leaf, he crawled out of the kennel and carefully took off his pants. He had learnt before Franklin didn’t mind if he used his hands to do that, so he kept doing it, closing them into fist to be sure to not use his fingers.

Matt opened the door and went out, peed in the nearest corner and came back in his kennel at the speed of light. 

Foggy seemed at least surprised by that.

“Leo?” he called tentatively, and Matt shivered. He couldn’t figured if he was angry at him for what he had just done or not. He was too busy in calming himself down. “Leo, please… come here. Come here… please”

Franklin was still  crying, and was giving him a direct order.

Matt obliged, head down and whining desperately. He didn’t know what to do; he wanted to curl up over himself, a sort of defense from the hits he was expecting. But that only made things worse in the past, so when Franklin reached out his hand, he tentatively leaned into it with his head, like he did with his leg. 

“Good kid” Matt’s head went dizzy for the relief when the boy praised him, his voice steadier and less wet than before. His knees failed him and he found himself laying on the floor. “Leo?” 

Franklin called again and Matt barely felt him crouching at his side. His head was spinning and his senses had gone haywire. “Leonard, are you okay?”

He wasn’t. He definitely wasn’t. This was too much. 

Everything was too much.

* * *

 

Foggy couldn’t even start describing what was happening. His words had somehow found a way into Leonard’s heart, and the first time in days he had seen him move.

He couldn’t find the strength to help him with his pants like he usually did, too shocked and still thinking about something to say to make things better.

Leonard was moving again. 

Foggy looked at him opening the door and going out for  few seconds before rushing back into his kennel. As he called him, Leo crawled and seemed to relax a  little bit . He even licked his hand, and Foggy didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried because he was considering it a good thing that a boy  _ licked _ his hand. Leonard fell on the floor, panting as though he had run a marathon, and all Foggy could do was run his fingers through his hair, waiting for him to calm down.

*******

When Foggy came back the next day, he found Leo waiting for him, his pants already off, scratching the door. He knew he shouldn’t be happy about it, because you definitely shouldn’t be happy if someone is waiting for you so he can go to the bathroom, but it was still better than the day before, and Foggy felt like he could breathe again.

The previous week had been hard, even harder than the first days; Foggy could deal with fever, fever was a normal thing, but he didn’t know what to do with Leo’s  neverending panic attack.

He ignored his nudity (was it insane that he was getting used to it?) and grabbed the hood, guiding him.

* * *

 

He did it! He did it! He did it! 

Franklin wasn’t mad, and he wasn’t crying. His heartbeat sped up when he saw him, but he could feel it wasn’t in anger. Franklin was relieved.

Once they got back into the room, Matt let him help him with his trousers without a single yap of complaint.

“Good kid” Franklin praised and Matt bumped his head against his knee. 

Franklin wasn’t crying. Matt had been a good pet. 

He could do this. He could endure whatever Franklin wanted until his body gave up, taking him with it. 

The catholic boy in him was screaming rage. Suicide was the worst of the sins. No one should be so disrespectful to throw away the life God had gifted him with. But Matt’s life wasn’t a gift, it was a nightmare. His rational part didn’t give a shit about God  anymore, and wasn’t scared by Hell. He had already tasted that in the last two years. Real Hell couldn’t be worse.

“Here, Leo ” Franklin called “Breakfast?”

He wasn’t going to eat anymore. Starvation was a difficult and painful way to die, but there were no other options available. Matt didn’t leave the kennel, but the boy didn’t push him. “I’ll leave that on your right, okay?” he narrated, and he could hear him place the food just outside his kennel, out of the way so he wouldn’t trip on the containers “There are cookies and milk. You can eat them  later, if you want.” 

He didn’t bothered to hide the fact he wasn’t going to eat. He just left everything untouched.

Franklin could punish him for not eating, he didn’t care. It would make everything happen faster.

Leo wasn’t eating, and Franklin didn’t know what to do about it.

He was obvious Leo was starving himself for who knows what reason, but he knew how felt like to be forced to eat something you don’t like, Rosalind did that every time, so he didn’t want to make him eat if he didn’t like what he brought him. 

He changed meals, trying to find something Leo would like. He had brought him pancakes for dinner, because he knew Leo liked them, but he threw them away after two days, untouched.

“Leo” he started after a few days. He had left him alone for a while, but he was getting weaker everyday that passed and he hadn’t touch the water either. “You have to drink, at least” 

No reaction at all.

Leo was on the mattress, his eyes open, breathing slowly and unevenly. 

Definitely not good. “Leo?” he tried again, trying not to touch him. He didn’t want to scare him, let him think he was going to punish him, but he had to help, even if that meant scaring him again into that closet for days. No reaction. “Leo” he sounded rough, and the kid finally blinked and tensed with fear. Foggy refused to feel guilty. “Leo, are you trying to kill yourself?”

The boy went pale, and he didn’t need any other answer. 

Foggy couldn’t really blame him, if his life had been half as shit as he thought, that would be enough to desire death; still, he didn’t understand why he had decided to do that now; he was trying to be good with him, to not force him to do anything. Okay, he had screwed up with the open door thing, but things had seemed to get better.

He carefully reached out his hand, passing his fingers gently through his hair. Leonard flinched and his eyes went wide in dread, but Foggy didn’t let go, trying to reassure him, while he felt for the bottle of water he knew he had left somewhere near. Drinking would be a start.

There.

Foggy opened it and, ignoring the desperate plea in Matt’s whines, gently pushed his head up a  little bit .

“Drink, Leo ” he urged softly “It’s ok. It’s ok. Drink. Nice and slow. Nice and slow ”

The boy resisted, keeping his cracked lips shut, then his body gave in, desperate from dehydration, and he drank, slow as he had said. Foggy let him take his time before dragging him up against his chest. Leonard was completely limp in his arms, slightly shaking and whining.  "I'm so sorry someone did this to you. I wish there was someway I could make things better." he paused, shifting so he was lying beside him, his chest pressed against Leo’s back “I’ll try to make things better “ he whispered near his ear “I promise. No one is going to hurt you anymore. I’ll get better and I’m not going to freak you out. Please, give me a chance”

* * *

 

Franklin’s heart was telling him he was sincere, but that couldn’t be, could it?

Because that didn’t make any sense.

Why would he take care of  him, if he wasn’t going to use him? Why were his masters permitting something like this to happen?

Unless Franklin wasn’t connected to them. No. That couldn’t be. 

But that would surely explain a lot of things; like the fact he didn’t know his name, for example.

It would be too risky for Franklin to take care, or worse, hide, someone else’s pet-kid. It was like kidnapping or robbery.

But his masters loved playing with him, using him and making him yap and whine until he was too tired to do even that; they would never leave him alone for so long, even if he was sick. They didn’t give a shit  before, why should they start now?

Foggy had always been kind to him, he fed him with real food and helped him  eat and drink, and he never threatened him when he used his fingers, and he hadn’t squeezed them into the jamb of the door as a warning either.

Foggy was  _ kind _ , and talked to him as if he was talking to a person, not a pet. His masters always communicated with him through single words, or orders. The gave him a name (a pet name, something like Tank, to constantly remember him he would be like a tank during their games, but they rarely use it with him. They usually called him pet, or dog, or slut. 

Foggy had re-named him with Leonard, after a person, a  _ doctor,  _ okay, a person from a tv show, but still, a  _ person _ . And he was even using it!

Even now, that he was miserable, and weak and it was clear he was trying to kill himself, he was taking care of him. He was lying with him. He couldn’t remember the last time someone did something like this.  

It made no sense at all. And he couldn’t think, he couldn’t focus. 

His head ached for the lack of water and food, everything was a blur of noises and sensation he wasn’t able to process.

He was tired.

He wanted to sleep.

Foggy would let him sleep.

He wanted to believe Foggy, and he didn’t care if he would regret this in the morning.

Matt closed his eyes and let himself rest against Foggy’s chest.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT: “Ok. Listen… it’s late and I have to go home, but I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise. Just rest, ok?”  
> Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go.


	7. Reading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He shouldn’t cry  
> Pets didn’t cry.  
> But Foggy wasn’t angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we reached 101 kudos... thank you so much to everyone for you support! I know there are stories outhere with way more kudos than mine, but, still, it's a great number for me so, really thank you very much, lovely readers!
> 
> Just one more thing, then I'll leave you to the chapter, I promise.  
> This chapter is me trying hard to get out of my writer block, which is still here, for the record, I'm having trouble with writing... so, please, leave me any kind of feedback about this chapter, kidos, comments, questions, anything!

Foggy couldn’t help a smile as he passed his sleeve on his face to wipe off the last traces of his desperate cry. Good job he had done in staying calm.

It had worked, though. Leo drank and then left himself fall limp and asleep in his arms. 

Foggy didn’t move from there.

He looked at his watch, he had an appointment with Alex in half an hour, but he wasn’t going to let the kid alone until he woke up. He fished his phone out of the pocket and texted her that he wasn’t feeling well (damn school diner) and being very, very, very, very sorry and that he would make it up to her another time. Promise.

* * *

 

The mattress was soft and warm.

Those were the first thoughts Matt was aware of when he woke up. When had he fallen asleep?

Memories came piece by piece in the following moments.

Foggy crying, promising him he would never hurt him. Water, refreshing in his dry mouth. Foggy had made him drink. Then what?

Suddenly, the heat coming from behind him made sense.

_ Oh no. No. No. No. Nononononononononono. _

Matt wanted to cry. How stupid he had been to believe Foggy was telling the truth. Of course, it was just a trick, andnd Matt had fallen right into his trap.  

Franklin was no different than masters. He had waited for him to be weak enough to trust him, and then he used him when he wasn’t able to fight back.

He couldn’t even remember what had happened. It was telling enough to be waking up with the boy.

_Shit_.

He had fallen asleep in his master’s bed. 

That wasn’t allowed, he knew that! 

Matt tried to wiggle his way out of Franklin’s arms without waking him, but all he managed to do was wake him. 

“Leo, hey… What’s up?” Franklin’s voice was still drowsy. Matt shivered. 

_ Oh, no. _

_No_.

Matt was going to be in so much trouble now, Franklin knew he’d fallen asleep in his bed and there was no way he could avoid getting punished, this time. 

He didn’t want to be punished, but he deserved it, and he knew it. Good dogs didn’t sleep in their master’s bed. Good dogs crawled into their kennels, no matter what.

They had taught him that before the adoptions started. 

He was tested and punished until he learnt.

“Hey, hey, hey. No. Leo, calm down” Franklin’s voice sounded a little bit stressed, he was scared. Why should Franklin be scared? “Calm down, Leo. It’s ok. You fell asleep, it’s alright. You are safe”

He wasn’t safe. Pets were never truly safe. They were safe as long as they were good, and Matt wasn’t good, so he wasn’t safe at all. 

“Leonard. Come on. Leonard. Leo… It’s ok. It’s ok”.

A bottle touched his lips and Matt drank. He wasn’t thirsty, but he was already in too much trouble to refuse it. “Good boy. Drink”. An order. Matt drank again, until Franklin let him stop.

* * *

 

Foggy didn’t know what he had done this time to make Leonard panic, or what to do to calm him down. 

He usually had some idea when he fucked things up and, starting from there, tried to fix it, but, at the moment, he had no clue. 

Leo was sleeping in his arms, and yes, that sounded weird, but he had done nothing wrong. He was just trying to make him feel safe, and now the boy was shaking like a leaf, biting his lips, trying to stop whimpering.

Foggy made him drink from a bottle of water, reassuring him with words. The whimpers stopped, but he was still panicking. Foggy kept hugging him, soothing him with his voice.

_ Think _ , Foggy ordered himself. 

He went through his memories of the last hour, and then thought about what he had done since Leonard had closed his eyes. 

He had barely moved since then. He had sent that message to Alex (who, for the record, hadn’t answered him yet) and then he’d hugged-

How could he have been that stupid? 

He realized what could mean for a child used to be abused to wake up on a bed  with someone hugging him from behind, and immediately jumped, releasing Leo and pulling himself off of the mattress. 

The kid who had passed who knew how many years as a sex toy or, in the best scenario, as a pet. 

He had to think of the worst case scenario. Sex toy.

* * *

Matt liked Foggy. He shouldn’t, but, still, he liked him.

His heart was steady as he told him he was safe, that he had just fallen asleep, but that was okay because he had starved himself for days and his body was tired.

Foggy’s voice was steady now that he had stopped whining and was able to listen to him, and Matt was starting to calm himself down.

He tried to focus on his own body, expecting the familiar pain in his lower back and his mouth, the pain he was used to feel the day after his masters used him. 

He wasn’t in pain at all.

What had happened? 

Had been Foggy so careful to stretch him so well he didn’t hurt him at all? Matt couldn’t remember the last time someone had prepped him properly. 

Back in the kennel, when he was younger, they‘d been careful with him all the time. They didn’t want him to scream because no one should hear them training him or they would be trained as well, but they weren’t as special as him, so they couldn’t train them.

They had taught him how to please his masters in every way possible.

Pain had started when he’d been sold to one of the many families without children. 

He remembered one night, very late. 

 

_ He was sleeping when the back door opened. _

_ “This is it”  _

_ The shock of a teaser woke him with a start. There were people around him. The guardian took him by the collar and dragged him out of his cage. _

_ “Show them what a good pet you are”. He ordered, shocking him again when he didn’t move. _

_ He went immediately on his all fours and yapped, his tongue out as a happy dog would do.  _

_ It was the worst night of his life. _

_ They tested him in so many painful ways that at the end of the night he couldn’t even crawl anymore, and the guard had shoved him back into his cage.  _

_ The family came back the day after and adopted him.  _

_ Matt cried and fought with all his strength, he didn’t want to go with them, and that was his last chance to be rejected. He bit every arm, hand and shoulder that came close, and kicked.  _

_ Eventually he felt a sting in his neck, dizziness, and when he opened his eyes next, he was in a cold place, naked, with a collar around his neck, and a short chain keeping  him secured to a wall.  _

_ They never prepped him again, and when they took him back they told that to his guardian. _

_ No one had ever bothered stretching him after that. _

 

But there wasn’t smell of sex either. No cum taste in in mouth or around his hole. Both of them were fully dressed.

What?

He listened to Foggy’s voice. Everything was okay. It was okay to sleep. 

No, it wasn’t. 

But Foggy’s heartbeat promised honesty, and his voice was so even and calm, and Matt shouldn’t like it, but he did. And it wasn’t only Foggy’s voice. It was the way he ran his fingers through his hair, without any trace of desire or arousal at all. It wasn’t the kind of touch that forestalled the firmer grip and pulling of his head against his masters’ pube. 

He liked Foggy’s way of patting him and… what? 

_No!_

Foggy suddenly pulled himself away from him, leaving him cold and scared. What had he done so wrong? Why?

And why was he sad about the lack of contact? He should be relieved, happy. If Foggy didn’t touch him, he couldn’t use him. 

Then why was he feeling cold and lonely? 

He wanted to yap, to whine, to bite Foggy’s sleeve and pull him back, to do anything he could to make him come back… but he couldn’t. This was all a game, wasn’t it? Foggy would change his mind any moment, and Matt knew if he let himself trust him, the betrayal would hurt so badly. He didn’t think he could survive the pain, the disappointment and the rage of being returned to his masters again. So he stayed  still, telling himself it was better like that until he almost believed it. Besides, away from Foggy, the dread of being punished was was slowly fading. He stopped shaking.

With the calm, his senses began to come back too, and he became more aware of his conditions and the surroundings. 

He was definitely fully dressed. No taste of cum or anything else in his mouth. He didn’t smell anything off in the room. No soren _ ess, _ except for his empty and hungry stomach and his sore muscles, but they hurt even before the last night, probably because of the fall from that roof. He had been lucky he didn’t break anything. 

“Leo?” Foggy called hesitantly, his voice coming from the furthest corner of the room “are you ok?” 

Was he ok? 

Not at all.

Could he say that?

No way.

Matt barked.

“Ok. Listen… it’s late and I have to go home, but I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise. Just rest, ok?”

_ Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go. _

Why was he thinking something like that? Foggy was going home, it was good that he was leaving him alone. 

Alone meant no sex, no games, no orders, and no wondering how to behave to please him. 

Alone meant using his fingers to drink from the bottle, and eating as slow as he wanted with no fear of having the food getting taken away from him. 

Alone was safety. 

The more Foggy stayed away from the room, the better it was for him. He had noticed before, when he had been adopted by normal pet-families, that when their kids were school age, it took them longer to get bored of their new pet, and they kept him for a longer period of time before getting rid of him..

He was okay to be alone. 

It wasn’t okay to want Foggy to stay longer.

He was okay to be alone.

It wasn’t okay to want Foggy to stay longer.

He repeated the sentences inside his head until he fell asleep.

_******* _

Matt's eyes snapped open as Foggy opened the door.

Shit. He should have been awake and waiting for him. That was what good dogs did.

“Hey, Leo. Sorry, I’m late, but it’s Saturday. I bought you pancakes. I’ve already cut them so you can eat them easily.”

It didn’t matter that Foggy had already fed him with pancakes. Matt crawled slowly with his head down and flinched after the first bite. 

Nothing happened.

* * *

 

Seeing Leo eating was torture.

It wasn’t the first time he brought him pancakes and milk, but every time Leo acted as if he was expecting to be hit. 

He curled up over himself, recessing his neck into his shoulders, eyes closed.

And when he finally understood it wasn’t going to happen, he ate as fast as he could, barely chewing before swallowing. 

It was heartbreaking.

“Slow down, Leo” Foggy said, carefully keeping his voice low. “you are going to get sick, if you eat too fast. Here. Take a sip of milk” 

Leonard eyes went wide in terror. 

Damn it. 

“No. Hey. It’s okay. It’s okay. You can finish it. You can finish it. Just… slow down, ok? Feel the taste. I’m not going to take that back. It’s yours. It’s all yours”

Leo shivered, but slowed down and took his time to eat, even if his body was incredibly tense, as if he was expecting something to happen. Foggy backed away from him, hoping it would help him to relax.

For once, it seemed to work. Leonard relaxed and finished his plate, reaching his closed hand out for the milk after that. Foggy made him drink and then opened the door. 

Leo tensed again, but took a tentative step toward the outside.

Foggy followed him. 

“Go on, Leo. It’s okay. It’s okay” he encouraged him, keeping his hands behind his back. Leonard took another step, then, seeing he wasn’t going to be punished, he took another… and went on till he reached his usual corner. And it was amazing how confident he was in his crawling, as if it wasn’t blind. Could he smell where he was going?

Foggy walked toward him and helped him with his pants, because he really hated seeing him struggling to take them off without using his fingers (and he refused to think about  _ why  _ he didn’t use them, because if he did, he was one hundred percent sure the answer would make him vomit for a whole week) and then helped him with the opposite operation. “Good boy” he praised, because he had noticed Leo responded positive to that kind of praise. 

They went back to the room together, but Foggy didn’t hold Leo’s  hood like a leash and he invited Leo to join him on the mattress, being very clear in telling him he didn’t have to if he didn’t want. He had to study for his history test on Monday, so he had kept his books with him, and started to read it out loud, adding commentary from time to time.

* * *

 

That was the best thing ever happened to him since… maybe forever. 

Foggy was reading _to_ him. Ok. Not really for his benefit  because Foggy had explained he really had to study for a test but, still, he was reading, and describing the pictures and… his voice was so nice Matt crawled out of his kennel to be closer to him.

Still, he knew the rule. 

No pets on the bed or the sofa, and the mattress could be considered to be both, so he just sat next to it, with his head leaning over his hands and near the boy’s feet.

Foggy’s heartbeat picked up, but he didn’t seem upset, and Matt yapped, nudging the foot with his head.

“You have to explain to me how you find your way around so well, some day, when you’ll feel like talking to me” he could feel Foggy’s smile in his words “You are blind, I suppose… and still, sometimes it just seems you see better than me.”

Matt froze, because pets don’t speak and he couldn’t tell him about his senses. That would be suicide. He remembered Stick far too well. Then he realized it wasn’t a proper order, so he just yapped again. “Come on, come here, on the mattress, you must be freezing on the floor” 

Nope. He wasn’t falling into the trap, no matter how much he liked Foggy’s voice.

Matt stayed perfectly still.

“Ok, Leo. Got it.” 

He heard the shift of clothes as Foggy got up and picked something from the floor. 

_ Oh no.  _

He had screwed up. 

Foggy was leaving.

He didn’t want him to leave.

He felt something falling over him.

Matt whined.

_No. No._

Not the box. He hated the box. It was the worst of the punishments. His masters used to trap him under it when he pissed them off. It was a pretty small box, and they forced him to curl up on himself until he fit into it, then anchored it firmly to the floor. It was so small all his muscles screamed in pain and he couldn’t breathe.

There weren’t holes for air, and they used to leave him under it until he started to panic and cried in terror. 

He started to shake.  
No.

“Shh. Calm down, Leo. Calm down”

What? 

It took him a while to realize there was something warm and fuzzy over him and that left his head out. A… blanket? Matt whined, tears filled his eyes. He couldn’t help it.

It was such a relief not to be trapped under the box. 

And then there was Foggy’s scent around him, his arms surrounding him and pulling him up, against his chest, careful in keeping the blanked in place as he hugged him.

“Shh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Leo. Really. Sorry. Please, stop crying. It’s okay, everything's gonna be okay, I promise.”

Foggy’s voice, the unmistakable truth in his heartbeat, the way he was hugging him, sweet and strong at the same time, firm and careful, without any trace of arousal.

He shouldn’t cry

Pets didn’t cry.

But Foggy wasn’t angry. Foggy was  _ apologizing _ for upsetting him.

It was too much.

He couldn’t control himself anymore. He bursted into tears and sobs, instinctively grasping at Foggy’s shirt and hiding his face against his chest. 

He shouldn’t use his fingers. He didn’t want them to be broken again, or worse.

He didn’t care.

* * *

 

Leo looked desperate.

He had passed from a beginning of a panic attack to a desperate cry in the moment he had hugged him. 

For the first time, he was seeing Leo… no. Not Leo. 

He was seeing whoever this boy was, his true him.

And he wasn’t terrified. He was maybe scared, but not terrified. He was desperate, and he didn’t know… relieved? Hopeful? 

Foggy didn’t know and didn’t care. 

All that mattered was this kid, finally trusting him enough to let himself go. His fingers were gripping his shirt so tight he could easily tear the cotton, and it was getting damp with his tears.

Foggy hugged him even tighter, whispering reassuring promises in his ears. 

Maybe he really could make this boy’s life better, he could bring him back to a normal life as a human. Or, at least, he could try.

He  _ would _ try.

He let him cry himself out, rubbing his back from over the blanket back and forth. Once he had calmed, he didn’t move, and Foggy wasn’t going to make him if he didn’t want to. He shifted a little bit so he could resume studying, leaving the book open on the floor and turning the pages with only one hand. 

He cleared his throat and started reading.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far! Please, leave a comment, or a cookie, or something, you will make my day, and I'll answer every question you have (unless it is a spoiler, then I'll say you you'll find the answer later in the story) and every comment!


	8. Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... he was afraid Foggy would use the reading as a weapon, it wouldn’t be the first time someone discovered something he liked and used it against him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you for all your feedback, you made my day!  
> I'm also sorry for the delay, but I still have issues getting out from my writer block, which is probably why I'm not really happy about this chapter...
> 
> Anyway... this is also unbetaed, so, please, point out any error!
> 
> Leave a cookie, or a comment, or questions, I'll answer everyone (if not immediately, I'll do it next week, when I'll be back from London :) ). I promise!

“I’ve got an A in history!” Foggy shouted as he entered the room, and Matt couldn’t help but bark as an answer, trying to put in that all his happiness about it. Foggy was spending a lot of time with him, and Matt knew he was keeping him away from his books, even if Foggy had taken the habit to bring them with him and study as Matt slept or stayed in his kennel, quietly listening to him reading things aloud. 

It took Matt a while to get used it it. 

At the beginning he was afraid Foggy would use the reading as a weapon, it wouldn’t be the first time someone discovered something he liked and used it against him.

He remembered when his masters discovered he loved audiobooks.

 

_ They downloaded him a bunch of them from the internet, promising to give them to him if the behaved.  _

_ And Matt did. He had been the best pet they’ve never seen, and they kept their promises during one of their parties, the second Matt attended. They made him kneel in front of them and gave him something. He was an mp3 player, with all the options for blind people activated, and a lot of books.  _

_ They even allowed him to use his hands and fingers to use it. _

_ For the first time in a long time, Matt had been happy. Yes, they were using him but, so far, they hadn’t hit him, and they let him sleep on the carpet in the living room. It’s wasn’t that bad. _

_ That night, he crouched on the carpet and he played the first one. “Harry Potter”. It was one of his favourite books, but he had lost his copy after his dad’s death. He froze when the book started. It was in chinese. He stopped it and played the second one. The same.  _

_ He changed series.  _

_ The same. _

_ They all were in chinese, or japanese or some other impossible languages. _

_ He felt the skin of his face burn as he went red for anger and humiliation.  _

_ Laughs. _

_ How could he have missed their presence right in the next room, spying him?  _

_ “Oh, poor pet…” the Lady teased him “can’t you understand them? That’s a shame. A real shame.” _

_ “Yeah, all the time my wife lost on the internet, looking them for you, and you are so stupid you can’t even understand them…” the man approached him and Matt curled up on himself as the first kick hit him on his right side. It wasn’t going to end well. He knew that, now. _

_ “Please…” he whined, his lips forming the human words before he could think better. _

_ “Pets. Don’t. Speak!” The man shouted, each word underlined by a kick. _

_ “Please… I’m… I’m sorry… Ma… Master!” _

_ The man switched from his foot to something that looked like a baseball bat until he lost consciousness.  _

 

Soon, he had understood it was just another of the ununderstable kind things Foggy did for him without a real reason to do that, and Matt had learnt to enjoy the time he spent with him.

Only now that Foggy mentioned it, Matt realized that could affect his school performance.

Luckily, it hadn’t happened, and Foggy was happy about it, and if Foggy was happy, Matt was safe.

“It’s all thanks to you!” The other boy was saying “Reading things out loud for you… that helped me memorize things!”

What? Foggy was… _thanking_ him? “I bought you pancakes with chocolate pipes, to celebrate!” 

Matt barked again. Foggy was the best!

* * *

 

Things were going better. Leo was still fucked up, he still refused to speak or use his hands, but a whole week had passed and Foggy managed to not freak him out.

Foggy considered it a win.

“Leo, I can’t come back tonight” he said before leaving that afternoon. It was a Saturday and he had told Anna and Rosalind he would spend the day with Alex and other friends, but he had actually been with Leo all the time, mostly studying for his biology test. “I have a dinner with my mom, Rosalind” he let his disappointment come out. “I left some pasta for you. It’s cold but it has tuna, so it should be good anyway. I’ll come back tomorrow, I promise”

*******

“Where have you been? You are late!” Rosalind welcomed him roughly, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him inside his bedroom. Foggy looked at the pac-man shaped clock heng up to his wall. It was 6:30, he knew she had booked the restaurant for that night at eight o’clock. It would take ten minutes from his home to get there by car, and half an hour for him to get dressed and ready to go. There was plenty of time.

“Rosalind, it’s okay!” He protested “there’s still time!”

“Have a shower. Now!” She ordered. Foggy was tempted to snap or shout at her or something else, but he didn’t want to give her another chance to judge Anna and the way she had educated him. Anna had been the greatest mom in the world, she was his real mom, no matter what genetics said, and he knew how hard it was for her to share their house with the woman who kicked her husband and son out of their home and that now had decided to care about him. He didn’t want her here more than Anna or Edward did, but none of them had a choice, not if they want to stay together. 

Rosalind was never a presence in his life until she had shown up three months ago, claiming her rights to see his child whenever she wanted. She said the time had come for him to know who his real mother was, and let her guide him through his path for adult life. 

Foggy refused, he didn’t need Rosalind, nor her money. He wanted to go to law school, but because of his own merits, not because she had put a good word for him.

Rosalind “razor” Sharpe was a lawyer too, but not the kind of lawyer he wanted to be. He wanted to help people against injustice, not defending some construction company or insurance. 

She had left him and his dad when he was one month old, mostly because a child would slow down her career (his dad had told him it was for something he did, but Foggy wasn’t stupid); his dad had, luckily, found a new love, Anna, and she was the one who raised him. She was the one Foggy called “mom”. Then Rosalind had come back in their life, and when Foggy refused to leave his house she had moved there. Foggy hadn’t wanted that too, but Rosalind treated to bring Edward into court and suing him for his custody, and they all knew she would easily win. That’s why she was there, and Foggy had to second her wishes. 

He didn’t want to loose his family, not ever for a couple of years, until he became an adult.

That was why he was there, right now, wearing a very uncomfortable suit, sit at a round table with Rosalind and some guys of his school and their parents, all of them speaking of how good they were at sports and things like that. Foggy sat and ate quietly, hoping this would be over soon, and forced himself to laugh when one the proud fathers sat at their table praised his son for having taught their pet-kid how to catch a frisbee with his mouth. He described how he hit his hands every time he used them and showed videos of him. Everyone found that exhilarating, Foggy went to the bathroom and puked in the toilet. 

Rosalind took him back home at 10 pm and he fell asleep, only to wake up after a dream about people teaching Leo how to eat and drink from a dog bowl. Foggy looked at the green digital numbers of his alarm clock. 2.23 am. 

* * *

Matt had to pee. He knew Foggy didn’t want him to do that inside the small room (well, he didn’t say that, but Matt could tell anyway), but Matt knew there was no way he could make it until morning.

_ You can go out. _

Matt didn’t listened to the voice inside his head. Dogs don’t leave their house without their owners, it’s like running away. And dogs that run away get punished.

Matt didn’t want to get punished.

His kennel could easily be turned into something alike the box they used before, and even if Foggy wasn’t related to them (which Matt refused to believe, because believing in someone was too dangerous and he couldn’t afford it), he knew for sure it was a corrective discipline he could find on the internet. His Masters found that on a web site, he heard them talking about how fun it would be and bet on how much time it would occur to him to pass out. 

Matt took it as a challenge. Stick had trained him, he knew how to survive in a little, closed space with a small amount of air without panicking, but then they gave no sign to let him go and he couldn’t avoid to scream for help.

Matt shivered; he didn’t want to make Foggy angry to that point, but he didn’t want to go out alone, either.

His bladder was so full it hurt.

He couldn’t make it until morning. 

He opened the door and waited, listened. 

Nothing.

No heartbeat, no angry steps.

He swallowed. This could be his death or the beginning of something new. He tried to take a tentative step forward. His muscles didn’t follow his head. They started to shake. 

He couldn’t do that.

He had to do that.

_ The mind controls the body. _

He moved his right hand ahead. Then the left. The legs followed suits. He slowly, painfully, crawled to his usual spot, and the relief when his bladder began to empty was so high he sobbed.

Only when he finished he came back to reality and realized what he had just done. He froze, his head and neck compressed onto his shoulders, waiting for a kick, or a baseball bat to hit him. Nothing.

No one was there. 

He rushed back into his kennel and waited, barely breathing. 

Still nothing.

* * *

“Franklin! Get up!”

Foggy snapped his eyes open when Rosalind called him, and he was suddenly very awake. Rosalind usually didn’t wake him up, unless it was very, very late.

He looked at the alarm clock. 7:45 am. 

Shit.

He had to be at school in 30 minutes, and he had already missed the bus. There was no way he could bring breakfast to Leonard, unless he chose to stop by and get detention for being late at school, but that also meant he couldn’t stay with him in the afternoon.

“Franklin!”

Right. Staying in bed and panicking wouldn’t help. He got up and rushed into the shower, and then in the kitchen to steal something as breakfast. 

“I’ll drive you to school. Hurry up!” 

Figgy didn’t have time to complain, he was already late and he couldn’t afford to get punished. Leonard would think he had abandoned him and would suffer. He didn’t want Leo to suffer because of him. He didn’t want the boy to lose the little thrust he had in him. He took something from a shelf in the living room and basically dived himself into the car.

He made it to school just in time.

“Thanks, mom!” He yelled as he ran into the building.

*******

“Foggy!” 

This wasn’t his lucky day. He was hiding a container of pasta in his locker before going back to his class.

“Alex! Hey”

“Why are you putting pasta in your locker?”

Great. His almost-a-girlfriend now would think he was a fat glutton hiding food, but he couldn’t give Leo away.

“Well… Rosalind wants me to be more fit, but I’m so hungry…”

He didn’t like the look on her face. He had already spotted some of the glances she gave to him before, when she saw him buy an ice-cream or something else not exactly healthy.

“Well… she might be right. You are such a good looking guy, Fog, but…”

He knew what would come after the but, it was nothing new. 

And he didn’t know if it was because he had let Leo down that morning, or because he just wanted Rosalind out of his life, or because of the few hours of sleep he got after the nightmare, but he couldn’t bear another scold, not from someone who wasn’t Anna or dad.

“This is my body, and my life” he snapped, his voice dangerously low and even “if you don’t like what I do of it, well, you can go to hell, along with Rosalind”. He slammed the shutter close and went back to his classroom.

* * *

Foggy didn’t come. It was almost noon, by now.

He had gone out alone, and Foggy didn’t come. 

He should have known better. 

This was his punishment, and Matt almost regretted the box. He knew the box will last a few minutes, usually until he passed out, but then the worst was over. They might beat him too, sometimes, but he just had to endure and yap or whine properly. They loved when he whined for pity.

But this? Being left alone, without food and just the little water he had left, waiting till forever after Foggy’d spoiled him so much with his company? He couldn’t bear that, and he didn’t dare to escape again. They would be just outside the building, or in the neighborhood, ready to catch him and he wasn’t strong enough to fight them all (he didn’t know how many they would be, but the hunt always involved a lot of people, just to make it more fun).

He would never go out alone, not even in a million years, not if that meant no Foggy.

_ You, stupid, useless kid. You trusted him, and you got screwed. Again. _ Stick’s voice echoed in his head. He hated that, but it was right. He shouldn’t have trust foggy in the first place, no matter how sincere he sounded. He was a kid, kids were not reliable. 

Matt whined and curled up on himself in his kennel. His throat burnt and ached, but he didn’t drink. Maybe, if he showed them he was good, Foggy would come back sooner.

* * *

School eventually finished, Foggy got another A, in biology this time, thanks to all the time he had passed reading things out loud for Leonard. Rosalind would be glad, at least, even if she would probably take all the credit for his school results’ improvements, but he couldn’t care less.

He had to run and go to Leo. Foggy was sure he was probably freaking out by now.

* * *

Heavy breathing and steps. Panting.

He knew that panting. Foggy.

Matt suddenly could breath again. Foggy was back. His punishment was finally over. 

“Leo! I’m here, Leo!”

Matt barked, happy to see him. If he’d had that plug with a tail in him, he would probably wag it, no matter how much he had hated that damn thing or how much it hurt to have it in all the time. Foggy was back.

“I’m sorry, Leo. I really am. I woke up late this morning and I had to choose between bringing you breakfast and get detention time. I preferred to have the chance to came here in the afternoon, but, really, I am so, so, so sorry, Leo.”

Matt wasn’t listening to him. He was suddenly afraid. This punishment had been suspiciously short and probably more was coming. He laid down on the floor, his chin touching the ground, and whined for mercy. Sometimes it had worked.

“I know, Leo, you must be starving. Here it is. Come here, Leo”

Matt smelled the pasta.

No. Not poisoned food, please. Or food with disgusting things inside. No.

He took the lead and rushed into the kennel, nudging the top of it with his head until it fell down, trapping him inside of it. His masters sometimes liked to see him self-punish himself.

“Leo!” Foggy’s heart sped up and a moment later, he was free again. “Are you okay, Leo? Are you hurt?”

Matt yapped and, resigned, crawled to the bowl of food, bracing for whatever he would find as a condiment. “Good boy” Foggy praised him, patting his head slightly. “Come here”

Matt lowered his nose into the container and smelled. Tomato and cheese. Not of the good kind, but he didn’t smell anything else. 

Was Foggy going to tease him, taking it away at the last second?

He licked it tentatively, then took the first bite.

* * *

This wasn’t going as he had planned before, but Leo was clearly out of it, so Foggy decided to just let him eat and postpone what he had in mind.

Leo was acting strange and now, more than ever, Foggy wished he could actually speak, so he could exactly know what had happened to him and how to fix it, if it was possible. 

He checked the corner, but it was clean, and Leo wasn’t begging for going out so the only option left was that he had went out alone during the night, or the morning. 

Foggy wanted to celebrate the event, then, he made the connection.

Seriously? Universe, what’s wrong with you? For the first time Leo did something by himself and the next morning he woke up late? No wonder he was freaking out, he had probably thought that was some kind of punishment. 

He let Leo finishing his plate before speaking to him. Foggy was tense; he knew he had to choose his words properly, or Leo would take them in the wrong way. 

He helped the kid drink some water (and he took a mental note about buying a pack of 6 bottles so Leo wouldn’t die for lack of water, just in case), then let him lay on the ground beside him, with his head on his lap. He petted him for a while, running his fingers into his hair (thinking also that the kid needed a shower as soon as possible) e waiting until he had calmed down for good.

“Leo” Foggy began, and, please, don’t let me fuck everything up, please. Leo raised his head, looking toward him. He seemed alert but not scared. Good. “I’m really, really sorry I didn’t come this morning, but you did very, very good when you went out on your own.” And, God, he hated speaking like that to another human being, but it was worthed if it would make Leo understand his absence hadn’t been a punishment. “You had been a very good boy for me”

* * *

Foggy was talking, and Matt was listening very well, because Foggy didn’t punish him further, but he still might change his idea if he would catch Matt not listening to him.

He had been a good boy. Foggy wasn’t mad at him for going out alone and do his things. 

That was good.

Then why had he punished him? He really hoped Foggy would give him some explanation, that he hadn’t done that just for a whim.

“This morning…” there it was. Matt opened his ears very well “I wasn’t trying to punish you”

Perfect. It had been a whim. 

“... overslept” What? He had lost part of the sentence. Shit. He paid attention again “I had to choose between… no. Sorry. That’s not what I meant. Okay. Let’s put it this way. If I came this morning, I couldn’t come this afternoon, and I chose to come in the afternoon so I could stay with you longer. I didn’t want to leave you alone, or starve you. I promise. And I am sorry. I’ll never oversleep again.”

Matt had to listen to both his words and his heart very carefully to be sure he understood what Foggy was telling him. He replayed his speech a couple of time in his head, and yes. He had really said that and his heart was steady, so or it really was the truth, or Foggy truly believed it was, which made a lot of difference to Matt, but not actually so much in the matter of fact, since Foggy was the only one taking care of him, at least for now.

Matt yapped and licked his hand. 

Okay, Foggy. Understood, Foggy. Thank you, Foggy.

He should say thank you properly, though, and, for the first time, he didn’t mind too much doing that. He still didn’t like that, but Foggy had been so nice to him that Matt believed he deserved.

He shifted and his mouth found the zip of Foggy’s jeans.

Foggy’s heart sped up, and a hand pulled his hair and his head away. He whined for the sudden pain.

“No. No. No! Bad boy!” Matt made a ball of himself, protecting his head with his arms, but Foggy took a deep breath instead. “Sorry. Sorry, Leo” Foggy’s hand landed on his shoulder, but not in anger, it was… reassuring? Matt didn’t dare to move. Foggy was probably waiting for him to raise his head, so he could slap him  “Leo… look at me, please”.

An order. Matt obliged, shivering in dread. “Leo… I want you to listen to me, okay? Because I don’t want to repeat this ever again, okay? What were you trying to do is wrong, okay? And you must not do that again. Understood?”

This didn’t make any sense. That was what pets were for, why Foggy didn’t want him to do that? He wished he could talk and ask him, but pets weren’t suppose to talk, just obey. 

Matt could obey.

“Am I understood, Leonard?”

Matt yapped and licked his hand. Yes, Foggy. Understood. “Good boy.” Foggy patted his head and smiled. Matt relaxed. “Ehy, by the way, I’ve nothing to study today, but since you seem to like when I read, I brought something else with me to read you, what do you say?”

What? Matt raised his head, eyes wide open and his tongue out, waiting for more. Foggy was going to read something to him! Foggy laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes. Okay, this is ‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’, and it is the first of five books.” Matt heard Foggy turn the first page and clear his throat 

_ “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy…" _   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	9. Cutlery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And hey, wanna try something? I thought… you don’t want to use your fingers, right? That’s the problem with the cutlery. I don’t fully get it, if I have to be completely honest with you, but that’s okay, anyway”  
> The hell was okay, but he couldn’t say that to Leo, he didn’t want him to freak out,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!  
> Here I am with the new chapter, and I'm really sorry if I'm slow and irregular with the updates, but it takes me a while to write in English, and if I'm tired I just can't write like I do in Italian... but this story is not abandoned and never will. I promise.  
> If you want to be sure to not miss a chapter, you can subscribe, if you want :)
> 
> And by the way, thank you for all the kudos and the comments, every single one give me extra motivation to go on, so please... keep going!  
> I'll answer everyone and every question, if I can... I promise!
> 
> Last but not the least... this chapter is unbetaed, so, please, point out any errors :)   
> Thank you!

Foggy stopped reading around 5.30 pm, the time he usually went out to buy Leo dinner. The boy was curled up beside him on the mattress (yes, he had convinced him using the mattress was a good thing), his head resting on his lap. He was completely relaxed, and Foggy was relaxing too. He felt always on the edge around Leo, and he had also asked himself why was he helping him in the first place more time that he liked to admit to himself. He always had to be careful in every single gesture, every word, and it was exhausting not to know if Leonard was appreciating his efforts or not. 

Anyway, reading seemed to be a safe activity, at least for now, so Foggy kept going.

He closed the book and shifted slightly, allowing Leo to lay flat on the mattress.

“I’m coming back soon, okay, Leo? I’m just going to buy you some food”

The kid barked and licked his hand. Foggy laughed. “Yeah. That. Good boy”

* * *

Matt liked Foggy’s voice, and he wasn’t going to complain about his book choice… but he was starting wondering if it was the umpteenth test of his Master.

It wasn’t like when he read him about history or biology, this was an amazing, comic book about a human and space travels and Matt had to do the impossible to not laugh. Pets didn’t laugh. That was something only people could do. Were their masters suggesting Foggy to read that only to punish him for having human reactions? He wasn’t going to fall in their trap, no matter how fun this book would be.

He bite the inside of his cheek so hard it started to bleed when they got to the part when the main character, Arthur found out the Earth will be wracked because of the same reason his house had been wracked.

Then Foggy went out to buy him food, and Matt laughed until he felt tears falling down his cheeks, alone and safe. 

 

When Foggy came back, Matt discovered the book wouldn’t be the only news of the day. 

Foggy came back with chicken with curry and potatoes. It smelled wonderful.

“I took chicken with curry and fries. The curry isn’t mixed up with the chicken, yet, just in case you don’t like it”

No way. This was an old game for Matt too.

 

_ “Pet! Come here!” _

_ His mistress called him from the kitchen, and Matt crawled in there, trying to not stumble upon anything. He had already discovered they didn’t like when their pet hit a door or something else, and he didn’t want to repeat the experience, thank you. _

_ “Yes, mistress?” _

_ A kick hit him straight on to his head. _

_ Matt whined and barked. Dogs don’t talk. _

_ This must be a nightmare. No one before them had taken so literally the ‘pet’ part of pet-kid. Matt shivered but took his punishment.  _

_ “That’s enough, dear. He may have the rest this night, don’t you think? Our guests will be delighted by the possibility of train our new pet” _

_ Train? Wasn’t he already trained enough? Matt shivered again. He couldn’t imagine what could he possibly learn more than what he already had. Sexually speaking, he had gone from innocence through adulthood in a blink of an eye when he was nine! He also knew he had known nothing at all about sex before that, so maybe there were still things to know. He just hoped they wouldn’t be so painful like the others. _

_ A slap on his face.  _

_ “Your mistress just asked you a question!” _

_ “Do you prefer cheese or tomato sauce in you pasta?”  _

_ How could he choose if he was not allowed to speak? Matt stayed quiet. _

_ “Speak!” the man ordered. _

_ He suppressed a sigh. He would be punished for sure.  _

_ “Cheese” the word came out more as a whine.  _

_ “Wrong call” the woman took him from his neckband and made him hit his head again the counter “You are just a pet. Pet don’t choose what they want to eat. Pet just eat what and when their owners want. Dear, please, take him downstairs until our guests come by” _

_ “Yes, dear”  _

_ Matt’s head was pounding from the pain, his senses haywired for the shock, and he was so scared he didn’t dare to pick up a fight against the man. The man put a foot on the upper side of his back, just under his neck, and pressed him down while he placed the collar. It was heavy, cold, and it smelled of metal. He could feel it was made as a chain. It was so tight he could barely breathe, and he didn’t dare to swallow. He figured they didn’t plan to let him eat for that night, not that he was hungry, anyway. _

_ There was the sound of metal clinking as the master secured a leash to the collar, then he pulled and he had to crawl fast to not be choked. The man forced him into a small corridor, and then down stairs, not caring about how difficult it was for him to go down them. The basement was cold and humid, and smelled of mould. It reminded him of the days with Stick, of the place where the old man kept his cage. He was the only pet-kid fighting, Stick made a lot of money from bets on him, but he didn’t treat him any better; he had to stay in the same cages and live with the other dogs. Matt hated that place, and he didn’t like this, either, and whined, scared. _

_ The man hit him with a kick, then made him kneel down and replaced the leash with a very short chain, that he secured to the wall. It was painful, and uncomfortable. He could not stand with his back straight, but he couldn’t lay down, either. He was stuck with his back bent and tensed to keep the chain loose enough to not choke himself. _

_ “Be a good dog, or this will be the only place you’ll see when we don’t use you. This is the only choice you will allowed to make.” _

 

So, no. Choosing was not an option. If Foggy wanted him to have just the chicken without the curry, he will eat that, no matter how wet his mouth went just smelling it. 

“Leo?” Foggy called again, and Matt whined in fear. “Okay. Okay. No. Don’t worry. It’s okay. It’s okay. Okay. Let’s begin without curry, okay? Then I’ll put a little bit of it and see your face. If you like it, I’ll put more. Okay?”

Matt yapped, still scared, but more confident. It was more than okay. It was a good plan, and he didn’t have to choose. 

“Good boy” Foggy praised him. “Now, what about we use a fork to eat instead of the bowl?”

Fork?

Matt started to shake and basically threw himself into the kennel so fast and so violently it hurt, but he didn’t care. He will not use cutlery to eat. Dogs weren’t allowed to, and he would not give Foggy the chance to break his fingers.

* * *

It was official. Foggy could write the _“How to freak out your pet-kid_ ” ultimate manual. 

It was frustrating. Everything he did or said was wrong, and he didn’t know what to do about it! He looked at the boy.

Leonard was a shaking ball into the warm kennel, his face completely hidden into his knees. Foggy took a step toward him, and he whimpered. Somehow, he was responding to Foggy’s emotions, even if he couldn’t see his face. 

Foggy didn’t have the time to ask himself how it was even possible, but he took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t born like that.

Leo acted like a dog because some assholes like Rosalind coaxed him into this behavior. 

“Ok, Leonard. I’m sorry I got upset. I really am. Sorry” he reached for him and gently patted his hair. The kid shivered, then went completely still and tense, he even stopped to breathe, like he was expecting to be punished. Foggy forced himself to remain relaxed, and ran his fingers through his hair  “I’m sorry, Leo. I just want you to recover and be able to live again like a  person. I… I know I fucked up, but… I am not going to hurt you. I promise.”

Foggy kept his voice sweet and even, like when his mom used to calm him down after a nightmare, and smiled when Leonard finally relaxed under his touch.

He took the plate with the chicken and the fork.

“Come on, Leo. Let’s eat something, okay?” He spoke with the same tone, and the kid looked at him with his big, sweet, unfocused eyes. “I’ll keep the fork, okay? And I’ll feed you. How does that sound to you?”

Leo simply knelt with his back straight and his mouth open. “Good. Let’s start without curry, okay? Here we go.” Foggy gave him a small bit of chicken and waited for Leo to eat it.

The boy took it tentatively, and Foggy tried not to be upset by his fear. “I’m adding a little bit of curry” he warned before feeding him again. 

Leo loved the curry. His eyes went wide open and he also licked his lips to clean them, so he added the rest of the sauce to the chicken and went from there.

“You’ve been very good, Leo” Foggy patted him again when they finished.

*******

The next day, Foggy brought him rice with eggs, ham and vegetables inside, a very simple chinese dish.

Leo was sleeping on the mattress, his arms wrapped around the book he was reading to him. Foggy smiled at the cuteness of the scene and let him alone for a while, using the time to do his maths homework.

The kid woke up an hour later and seemed scared by the presence. (Seriously? Foggy was still like a statue. What had the guy? Superpowers?).

“Leo, it’s me. It’s Foggy” 

He simply yapped and crawled toward him, only to stop… and sniffing the air? Really? “Yeah, that’s for you. And hey, wanna try something? I thought… you don’t want to use your fingers, right? That’s the problem with the cutlery. I don’t fully get it, if I have to be completely honest with you, but that’s okay, anyway”

The hell was okay, but he couldn’t say that to Leo, he didn’t want him to freak out,

“So, I was thinking… you could grab the spoon just like this” He grabbed the item in his hand, closing his fist around it, then he remembered Leo wasn’t able to see him. “No, okay, sorry. Give me your hand, please”

Leo obliged, and Foggy tried not to think about how similar his pose was to the one the dogs assumed for that simple trick. “Good boy” Foggy turned his hand so the palm was up and made him open it. He placed the spoon on it, soothing him with gentle words when he tried to run away, and then closed his fist around it. “See? You are not using your fingers like that”

* * *

 

Foggy didn’t understand, and Matt almost cried in frustration, but he didn’t, because dogs didn’t scream. It wasn’t just about the fingers. Dogs didn’t use their paws to eat or grab things!

He shivered, whined and yapped, trying to escape, but Foggy was keeping him firmly in place, without hurting him, though. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m telling you I’m okay with you using cutlery. No punishment. I promise, Leo. No one is gonna hurt you”

Foggy meant it. He was lying before, when he had told him it was okay if he didn’t want to use his fingers, but he was sincere now. 

Matt was confused by the whole situation, but, for the first time in years, he was tempted. He was tempted to fully trust Foggy and just eat like a person again; he was tempted to try and speak, or just nod or shake his head for saying no; he was tempted to shrug.

But he wouldn’t, and he couldn’t, either.

It was a one way road, there would be no coming back, but Foggy was his owner now. What about the future? There were no guaranties he would stay with him until his 18th birthday, and he didn’t want to do his training a second time after this.

So no. He wouldn’t.

Foggy gently closed his hand around the spoon. Matt fought, but the guy resisted him until he gave up. He didn’t want to be punished, either, and he knew better than piss a master off, leave alone a teenager!

He let him guide his arm to the plate with the rice and up to his mouth. The rice was cold, but still good to eat, even if the grains had glued together in the meantime. 

Foggy let him time to swallow, then repeated the operation. And again. And againg. And he did that until he finished.

“Very good. Very good boy” Foggy patted his head and Matt almost purred.

He couldn’t believe it. 

Yesterday, Foggy had used a fork to feed him, allowed him to have the curry and didn’t punish him, not even when he had run away into his kennel. No, Foggy ha calmed down and talked to him until he was calm enough to try again and eat. 

Today, he let him use a real spoon to eat.

Foggy wanted him to act like a person.

Maybe he just wanted to humiliate him later, when he would believe his nightmare was finished, so Matt didn’t dare to fully trust him, but it had felt good, not to eat from a bowl.

He crawled out from his kennel to reach the bottle of water, and Foggy helped him to drink, then there was the sound of plastic ripped out and the smell of… was that… chocolate?

_ Don’t show anything. Don’t show anything. Don’t show anyth- _

“Leo, come here.”

_ Damnit! _

“No. No. No. Calm down, Leo. I just want to share this with you. You were so good you deserved it” A prize?! For him? 

Matt crawled toward him and took the submissive pose, with his chin touching the ground between his arms, his ass up in the air. 

“Come here, Leo” Foggy hit the mattress twice. Matt obliged, eager to have the promised prize. Foggy’s hand found his mouth and he could savour his first piece of chocolate in ages. 

Matt almost cried.

Foggy deserved a prize too.

Matt pulled down his pants and kneeled in front of him, his ass ready to welcome Foggy’s dick.

* * *

_Seriously_?

Foggy jumped when Leo basically offered himself to him in the most explicit way he could think about, and it was even worse than when he had tried to give him a blowjob. He was really doing all of this just because he had given him a piece of chocolate?

Foggy sighed and put Leo’s pants back on.

“This is not right, Leonard. I gave you chocolate because I wanted to, I didn’t give it to you because I wanted to have sex with you, okay?” Foggy paused when Leonard started to shake. He realized he was almost screaming, and that he was scaring him. He patted his head and backed away from him. “Sorry, Leo. Come here, I have the time for one more chapter before going home”

Leo yapped, but laid down beside him and listened his reading. By the end of the chapter, he was fighting to keep his eyes open, and it was so cute Foggy couldn’t avoid to caress his cheek gently. “Sleep, Leo. Sleep”

The kid yawned and yapped again. Foggy smiled and recalled a lullaby his mother used to sing to him as a kid. He cleared his throat and started.

_ Take your Teddy Bear _

_ Hug him tight _

_ Let him sleep _

_ And dream tonight. _

 

_ Take your Teddy Bear _

_ Hold him high _

_ Let him play _

_ And don’t be shy. _

He repeated the lullaby until Leo fell asleep, then covered him and went home.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far!  
> Leave me a comment, or a cookie, whatever I'll be happy!


	10. Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time in ages, Matt wasn’t able to hear someone else’s heartbeat, but just because his own’s was hammering in his chest so loud he couldn’t hear anything else.  
> Only humans could laugh.  
> Pet didn’t laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!   
> Chapter 10 is finally out, sorry it took me a while, but I got a little bit stuck... anyway, this is quite a soft chapter, I wanted Matt to have a good day once in a while... I really hope you liked this!  
> Thank you for all your comments and kudos... you make my day!!

Matt couldn’t hold himself this time. What Foggy was reading to him was just too hilarious. A small, and immediately suppressed, laugh escaped from his lips.

For the first time in ages, Matt wasn’t able to hear someone else’s heartbeat, but just because his own’s was hammering in his chest so loud he couldn’t hear anything else.

Only humans could laugh. 

Pet didn’t laugh.

He tried to run, but his legs and arms didn’t listen to him, so he just stayed where he was, completely paralyzed by the fear. If Foggy wanted a human, he wouldn’t have chose him in the first place. 

“Leo… Hey, Leo” Foggy called him, and Matt realized he had spaced out for a second, because Foggy was now beside him, close, but without touching him. Matt came back to the present, and found that his body has curled up in a corner. When had he moved there? “Leo?”

Foggy was worried, or so it seemed, but you never knew with Masters, and he still couldn’t focus on his heart because his own was to loud. “Leo, I know you are freaking out, I don’t know why, but if I have to make a guess, I’ll say it’s because you smiled”

He could finally move. Foggy was waiting for him to apologize. He had always apologized and then he didn’t punish him. He had to apologize.

Foggy stopped him as he knelt and Matt whined, desperate and confused.

“No. No need to say you are sorry” he urged “It’s okay to smile, Leo. It’s okay, I promise. This book is funny, and it’s okay if you laugh or smile, okay?”

Matt didn’t understand. Why was that okay? How? Pets didn’t laugh. 

God, it was so frustrating! 

Foggy’s hand found his shoulder.

“I just wanna help you, Leo. I promise” Foggy paused “You know what? Your smile deserve a special prize”

A special prize? No. No. No way.

Matt’s heart sunk. He didn’t like special prizes.

 

_ The Masters hadn’t punished him for three weeks straight. Matt did anything they wanted, and accepted to wear his plug-tail every day and night, and even while they were taking pleasure from him, even if that hurt so much he cried. _

_ They loved when he cried, he could feel how their dick got harder when he began to whine and tear spilled from his eyes.  _

_ He was surprised when the Mistress crouched in front of him that day.  _

_ “You did very good in the last weeks, pet. You deserve a special prize” _

_ A special prize? Matt raised his head, interested and barked, moving his hips so his tail was waving, showing her his joy. He didn’t like how the thing felt inside of him as he did so, but that was what his masters wanted from him, and he was so curious to have his price he would have done anything to have it. “Very good, pet. Come with me.” She linked the leash to his collar and Matt crawled behind her. _

_ He actually liked to be on the lead; it was more easy to follow his masters and don’t trip over anything else, and he didn’t risk his masters would find out about his senses.  _

_ She took him into the kitchen, and ordered him to kneel near to the table, next to her chair. _

_ “Your papers said you like pizza, pet, so, here we go. A special pizza for you” _

_ Matt barked and moved his tail even faster, and barely restrained himself from putting his hands on the tabletop. He knew very well pet weren’t allowed to do that. Their place was where he was right now, and only if the Masters asked him to.  _

_ The mistress smiled and laughed, it was almost a tender one. Matt barked again and waited for her to place it in his bowl. _

_ “I’ll feed you with my fingers, okay? You deserve it. You have been a very, very good pet for us, and we are going to keep you forever” _

_ Matt was so happy he didn’t think about smelling the air, or he would have noticed the strange and familiar smell in it. Unluckily, he only tasted it after the first bite. _

_ The mistress laughed hard at him as he forced himself to not spit everything on the floor. He didn’t want to be punished. He ate all the pizza, swallowing cheese, tomato and all the sperm they’ve spread on it, cursing his heightened senses which made him feel it even more. _

_ He threw everything up an hour later, and he was rewarded with a week chained to the short chain in the basement. _

* * *

 

Foggy felt sick. How fucked up was Leonard, if even the promise of a special prize was enough to freak him out even more? He was trembling so hard now he couldn’t even stay on his all four, and he didn’t know what to do. 

He wanted to hug him tight and reassure him, try to make him understand he was safe now, that he would never hurt him, but at the same time he felt it was useless. In these weeks he had never even tried to punish him, still, every little thing made him panic, as if he believed that if he acted too much like a human he would cross some kind of line and their relationship would go the hell.

“Leo” Foggy took the fleece blanket and used it to cover his shaking body and rubbed his back with his hand. “It’s okay. I promise” he whispered  “It’s not a trick, or a test. I really want to reward you, because I want you to be yourself again and be free. And okay, your smile was so sweet I want to see it again, okay?”

The shaking ball under the blanked exhaled a weak whine, then started to sob and cry. Foggy laid down on the floor and spooned him against his chest, careful to keep his pube away from Leo’s bottom. “It’s okay, Leo. It’s okay. I’m here… come here. Come here” He helped the kid to rotate on himself until his face was pressed into his chest, where his heart was. Foggy stayed quiet and didn’t stop rubbing his back until Leo eventually calmed down and yapped. “Good kid. It’s okay. It’s okay. You know what? You have been in there for too much, you must be going mad. What about we go out for a walk? There’s a park right behind my school. It’s near and always desert, so I can’t let you free and run a little bit”.

* * *

 

Foggy’s heart told true while he was speaking to him, soothing his cry with his hug. Matt managed to calm down, eventually, but didn’t pull away from the embrace. Foggy was gentle and warm, and, despite he could feel his panic freaked the boy out, Matt felt safe.

He knew it was wrong, and dangerous, but he couldn’t avoid it. 

When Foggy asked him to go out for a walk, Matt yapped. Walks weren’t dangerous. He had learnt there were rules his masters had to respect in public: clothes were mandatory and no violence was allowed. Leashes weren’t mandatory, they were mostly some kind al showing off, something rich people did to show everyone they were rich and could keep pet-people instead of pets just because they could afford to feed them, but Matt had been trained to use it, and he didn’t care too much, not if it meant not being punished or beaten for a while.

But, Foggy didn’t have a leash for him, and he didn’t wear his collar anymore, he had threw it away as soon as he had escaped from the house, and he had already made clear before he didn’t like to keep him like that. 

Matt just waited. Foggy was tapping something on his phone.

“Mmm… Leo, here says a leash is highly recommended if a pet-kid is trained like a dog. It’s some kind of amateur site, though, nothing official, so I’m not going to buy you one, okay?”

*******

The next day, anyway, Foggy bought him a leash, and a fanny pack to keep around his waist, because there was no way he would use a collar.

Matt didn’t get mad about it, Foggy had explained him (why did he care so much? Matt was a pet, pet wore collars and used leashes, that was a fact, not something he had to justify about) people had stared at them. He didn’t care, of course, but Foggy didn’t want to drag attention, just in case. He didn’t want Matt to be recognized and dragged away from him. 

Oh, so his masters had never found him, afterall. Foggy must have found him somewhere and decided to keep him for himself. Well, if that meant to stay with him, and not go back to his masters, he could wear a leash all the time.

“I’m really, really sorry for this, Leo. I’ll take it off as soon as we arrive at the park”

Matt yapped and let Foggy place the leash. The sooner they got there, the sooner he could lay down on the grass and just chill the cold, winter air. Foggy had been right, he needed some fresh air.

Foggy walked slowly, giving Matt all the time to crawl easily after him. He also warned him about everything that could hurt him on their way. Matt had never felt safer before.

They arrived at the park and discovered they weren’t alone. There was a family, with a… pet-kid on a leash, too? Yes. It was a young kid, and he was happy. Matt didn’t recognize in him the signals of the special training.

“Lizzy!” Another kid called “Let Tommy free, please? I don’t like the leash! It’s not a dog!”

“I know, sweetie” the woman answered, and set the kid free immediately “Go, Tommy” she told the kid, and she was sweet, not harsh or patronizing. “and have fun”.

The kids, both of them, ran together, playing with a ball. The woman turned toward them, and Matt hid behind Foggy’s back.

“What’s up, Leo?” he asked, but in that moment the woman spoke to him.

* * *

 

“Mmm… sorry to bother you” she said, kindly, and Foggy tensed. Leo was hiding behind him, trying to make himself as small as he could. That could be a simple reflex, or he might have heard something he didn’t. He placed his weight on his foot, ready to get on his feet and run away, and shifted so Leo’s face was hidden. He looked at the woman. She was young, maybe on her thirties, and had a smile shy on his face. “I was… I saw the leash and… I’ve just adopted that pet-kid and… I have no idea of what to do. I’ve looked into the internet but…”

“Let me guess” Foggy relaxed a little bit. “You got to howtotrainapet.com?”

“Yeah. That’s why I bought the leash and the collar, but it’s kind of sad… but you have one too so... “

“Leo’s case is a little bit different.”Foggy tried to explain without upsetting Leo or the lady “He’s been with me only for a few weeks, and I’ve kinda found him. Some dickhead has trained him to act like a real dog, that’s why he doesn’t stand. I’m trying to help him out of this shit” then he remembered he was talking to an adult, a young one, but, still, an adult. “I’m sorry” he apologized “it’s… that’s freaks me out…”

“I can understand” she smiled and looked to Leo, then made a couple of steps away from them “He’s scared by people, I guess. Can we meet later, maybe? So he can enjoy the little sun we have?”

Foggy actually smiled. She seemed sensible enough to understand Leo’s fear and offer him the space he needed “That would be great, but, if you want a hint… just treat him like you treat your son. Is the other one your son, right?”

“Actually… he’s my brother. Our parents died last summer, and I fought to have his custody, or he would be put in the system as a pet-kid as well. I saw Tommy and I simply couldn’t stand to leave him in that cage, at the kennel, but now…”

“I know. It was the same for me. I found him and I couldn’t let it go. It’s okay. Just… treat him like you do with your brother, and everything will be fine” he assured her, and then noticed Leo was looking to the kids, probably listening to their game, and looked interested and terrified at the same time. “Leo?” he called, and the kid immediately lowered his head in a plea. “Do you want to play with them?”

The kid barked. Foggy looked at the girl “Can he?”

The woman had startled at the sound, but she managed a smile 

“S… sure. Mmm… he doesn’t bite, does he?”

“No, no. He’s too scared to try something like that, I guess”. He stood and guided him to the kids. The woman followed them and instructed the children.

“Leo wants to play with you, but you have to be good with him, okay?”

“Why is he crawling, Lizzy?”

“Because some bad people have hurt him, sweetie. So you have to be very careful with him, think you can do that, boys?”

The children nodded and Foggy wanted to kiss them. He had been so angry with Rosalind and the ones who had owned Leo he had almost forgotten good people existed at all.

He and Lizzy sat together on a bench and Foggy told her about the few families he knew who had adopted pet-kids before and raised them as their own kids. He let his gaze on Leo, though, ready to step in if Leo got scared, but the kid looked like he was having fun. Every now and then he barked and made the children laugh. 

They came back at the asylum when he was already dark outside. Leo crawled into his kennel and laid there, with that cute smile on his face again.

“Did you have fun, Leo?” he asked, and petted him, just to let him know he wasn’t going to punish him for having played with other kids. Leo barked again. “Okay, okay. I’m going to buy some dinner for you, okay?”

* * *

 

Foggy came back with chicken, fries and… was that ice-cream?

Matt couldn’t remember such a beautiful day, so, when Foggy declared the ice-cream had to be eaten first or it will turn into a liquid, Matt realized there was the trap. Foggy had surely put sperm on it, or something else. He had been good all day, and it was fun to play with the children. Foggy had wanted him to be relaxed and feel safe, just to mess with him later.

When Foggy got everything ready for him to eat, Matt didn’t pick up the spoon.

He wanted Foggy to beat him, to punish him and fuck him so bad it hurt, so he would know the true him and go from there. 

He wanted to know the real Foggy before it was too late. 

“Leo?” the boy called, and suddenly Matt hated that name too. Foggy could just call him ‘pet’ or ‘slut’ or ‘cum dumpster’ or ‘tank’ like the others did and quit his charade. He had been the biggest idiot on heart. He believed in Foggy, in a teenager, the meanest people on the Earth. 

“Leo, what’s wrong? It’s only ice-cream, I promise. You can feed me, so you I can prove you”

Matt is so angry he shoves everything away before Foggy’s words reached him. 

He froze.

What?

No. No, no, nonononononono.

He had fucked everything up. 

He was an idiot, and now Foggy would take him back to a kennel because he was too stupid to listen or smell before act. 

He lowered his head between his hands and moaned with fear.

“Leo… come here. Come here. I promise, I won’t punish you. It’s okay. There’s still the chicken. We can eat that, and tomorrow I’ll bring you to the park again and buy you and ice-cream. I promise. Come here, Leo”.

Matt didn’t move. He just couldn’t. He couldn’t allow himself to trust Foggy, not now that it was clear he was only playing with him. 

Matt whined when Foggy put his bowl and a fork near him, but didn’t get any closer. “I’ll leave you now. See you in the morning”.

Foggy was upset, Matt could tell.

He had been stupid, and Foggy was starting to be less gentle. He should be happy. It was what he wanted.

Than why he wanted to cry?

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Let me know what fo you think about the chapter, leave me your questions or whatever, if you'd like to see Matt and Foggy doing something in particular... I'll answer everyone!  
> Kudos and comments make me really happy and give me extra motivation... so please, leave one!  
> And also, this chapter is un-betaed, so point out any error!


	11. Books

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy put his mp3 player in charge and turned the computer on. He surfed the internet for three hours, looking for audio-books he could upload on it for Leonard, then he finally went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm alive!  
> Sorry it took me so long for this chapter, but I got hit again by a writer block... it seems I got that a lot lately... maybe it's because I'm not going to university anymore... I don't know, but I promise I'm gonna finish this thing.  
> Thank you for all you kudos and comments, they helped me going through this chapter!  
> Thank you also to whoever reads this story.  
> We reached more than 70 subscriptions and I'm so happy for that!  
> Thank you thank you thank you!

 

Foggy ran away from the asylum as fast as he could. He was exhausted, and scared, and angry because anything he did, it seemed to be a menace to Leo, and when he didn’t fuck the things up, the other boy did, and he couldn’t bear this situation anymore.

He wanted to cry and scream and punch something… or to talk to someone about this and get help... but he couldn’t. 

Leo wasn’t his, and if he told someone, even his mom Anna, he would get into trouble and Leo would get brought back to the idiots who had done this to him.

He eventually got to his house and, as soon as he let himself fall on his bed, he regretted his reaction to Leo’s aggressiveness. 

It wasn’t his fault. His pet-family had totally fucked him up, probably for good, but he was a victim, not the culprit of his own behaviour. He had to make Leo understand Foggy wasn’t mean, that he would never,  _ never,  _ hurt him to have fun, and that he didn’t give him nice things just to take them away when he got used to them to make him suffer, or beg to have them back.

Foggy listened to his surroundings. He was alone at home, so he had plenty of time. The house was filled with the smell of Anna’s apple pie. Foggy went into the kitchen and cut a piece of cake he put into a container, then went back upstairs. The first time he had met Rosalind she had brought him a new mp3 player, the newest i-pod touch on the market, that was now lost somewhere between his things. He had never used it, partly because he didn’t want to throw his away (it had been Anna’s gift to him for his birthday) and partly to not give Rosalind satisfaction. 

But now it was time to start using it. He couldn’t give Leo that one, it didn’t take a genius to understand touchscreens were hell to use for blind people, but he could lend him his. It was an old model, it was basically a pen drive with a small screen and a few buttons to start, interrupt or skip a song, but the symbols were 3D, so Leo could use it using his fingers, or so he hoped. Fingers were still an issue sometimes, even if he was getting better.

When he finally found what he was looking for, he discovered it was already getting dark outside. There was no way he could complete his project in time, and he didn’t want Leo to think he had left him for good, so he took his jacket, the pie and the book and walked back to the asylum.

*******

When he got there, Leo was outside the building, sat with his back leaned to the wall.

“Leo?” he called, and the boy rushed inside, hiding into his kennel and whining so loud it broke his heart. “Leo...I’m sorry. I really am” how many times had he told these words? “I shouldn’t have leave you like that. I was just… angry, I think”

Leo shivered and whimpered in fear.

“I wasn’t mad at you, Leo. You did nothing wrong… I was mad at the people who had done this to you… because I don’t know how to make you feel safe… and you can’t feel safe with me… and… and you always expect the worst from me… and I can understand why… and… I… I… I am just a kid, Leo… I’m just like you… and… I have honestly no idea of what I am doing here… if...if what I am doing is really helping you, or if it is destroying you from the inside out… and…”

And Leo was now on his lap, with his head leaned on his shoulder. He seemed calm and, for once, he wasn’t shaking.

* * *

 

Matt couldn’t remember the last time someone had been so honest with him, or had tried so hard to gain his trust. People usually didn’t care at all if he trusted them or not, they just used him and that was all.

Even when they tricked him, they didn’t encourage him in trusting them… they just let him hope and enjoy the moment until he was sure that would be forever. It could last days, or months, sometimes, enough time for him to start thinking that would be real, for once. They knew what patience was.

 

_ It happened after a year or so he was with them. They had used him in any way possible. It was no longer a game, and he had stopped a while ago to believe it was because he was special. He had overheard them talking about his situation with one of their friends, who happened to be a lawyer. Even if he managed to escape, which was very unlikely with him being blind and always closed in a cage when they weren't using him, he couldn’t identify them with the police, plus the word of a pet-kid was nothing against theirs, even more if she would be their lawyer.  _

_ It was the first time he thought about killing himself. There was no way out, and he was willing to bet there were no chance they would let him go once he turned 18. It was more likely they would make him disappear. They would take him back to the kennel and the guardians would have put him down. He had heard it happen while he was there. It was like with the dogs too old to be useful.  _

*******

_ One day, his Mistress came to him and unleashed his chain and his collar too. He let him have a real bath, with warm water, nice soap and everything.  _

_ Matt was scared. Why she was so kind, suddenly? _

_ He whined for the fear, making up the best of his puppy-eyes for her. _

_ “What is it, Matthew?” she asked in a soft, motherly voice. _

_ What? They’ve never called him by his real name before. What the hell was happening? “You can speak, if you want. You can do that with me… “ _

_ And she kept her word. When they were alone, she unchained him and put clothes, real clean clothes, on him. She treated him like a child; she read him stories and let him have lunch and study at home. _

_ At the beginning, he was scared, but then nothing bad happened and he slightly relaxed day by day. It became a routine. In the morning, when his Master went out to work, the Mistress, Samantha, unleashed him and made him breakfast. Then he could study or play or listening to music for the rest of the day. _

_ In the evening, they still used him, but the promise to be treated like a human being during the day made everything easier to go through the nights. _

**_***_ **

_ “Matthew… wake up” _

_ Samantha was already freeing him from his collar and putting some clothes on him. His new life had gone on for two months, and he felt safe when the sun rose and the woman went down the stairs. _

_ “Today is your birthday, right?” _

_ “Y… yes, mis… mom” Matt answered, because it really was. _

_ “Then come with me. I’m going to take you out” _

_ Matt was just happy. He hadn’t been on a trip for too long and he trusted her by now, so he got up and had the quickest shower in the world.  _

_ They were on the road ten minutes later. _

_ She drove for a hour, but Matt didn’t ask where they were going. He wasn’t scared, but he knew anything could change in a blink of an eye if he didn’t behave, so he just waited, listening to the radio. _

_ She stopped the car and helped him out, before taking his hand and leading him into a house. _

_ The smell of arousal and sweat and fear made him almost fall down. _

_ “Yeah, pet. Stay on your knees” Samantha smiled. “That’s your place. Happy birthday, Pet” _

 

Foggy wasn’t like Samantha. He was now scared and sad. She never was. She never feared her husband would come back earlier from work and catch them, probably because it was a plan they had since the beginning.

Foggy was.

And, even if he knew he couldn’t trust him, he couldn’t just stand and listen to his apologies without reacting. He didn’t think. He just acted. He crawled out of his kennel and reached for him, climbing on his lap and leaning his head on his shoulder. He didn’t hug him, though. 

Pet didn’t hug.

Foggy hugged him and hid his face onto his chest, and Matt heard him cry, his body shaken by his sobs. Matt didn’t know what to do to make him feel better, so he licked slightly his cheek as soon as he could reach for it. 

Foggy laughed, still crying. Matt did that again, because he like when Foggy laughed. 

“You are a good kid, Leo” he whispered after a while, when he was calm enough to speak, and petted his head. “I’m sorry for leaving you. It won’t happen again, I promise”

Foggy shifted and moved Matt so he could reach for his backpack. Event through the paper, the smell of apple pie was so strong his mouth got wet, but he didn’t asked for it. 

He found out he didn’t have to. Foggy split the cake in two and gave him what Matt could feel was the bigger part of it. 

For once, he didn’t think it was a trap, and just ate it, savouring every single bite and barking happily once he finished to let him know he had liked it. 

Foggy laughed again, even if his heart did that strange thing it did every time he yapped or whined or barked. It was strange, but Matt couldn’t figure out if it was something good or bad, but as long as it didn’t cause a punishment, it was.

The boy shifted again and Matt felt him open the book.

“Are you up for a chapter? I don’t have so much time, but we can try. What do you say?”

Was he really asking? 

Matt settled on the mattress beside him and licked his hand.

* * *

Foggy managed to read a full chapter before leaving.

He got home just in time to have dinner and get scolded for having eaten a quarter of the cake by both Anna and Rosalind, even if they were not teaming up for the same reasons. 

Anna was just worried that he could get sick, while Rosalind wanted to put him on a diet.

Foggy waited for the scold to be finished, then claimed to be too tired for watching tv and, after a shower, he went back to his bedroom.

Foggy put his mp3 player in charge and turned the computer on. He surfed the internet for three hours, looking for audio-books he could upload on it for Leonard, then he finally went to sleep.

***

By now, Foggy knew better than showing up announcing to have a surprise, or a gift, or whatever. Those were lines that put Leo on the verge of a panic attack, so he just let him have his breakfast (a donut with some milk and orange juice) and read him a couple of pages of the book.

“I gotta go, Leo” Foggy closed the book and shifted to put it into his backpack. “Uhm… I was wondering… maybe you might feel alone while I’m gone… so… this is for you”

* * *

Foggy placed something into his hand and Matt closed his fingers around it before he could think better. He froze, waiting for Foggy’s reaction, but he simply kept speaking.

“There’s some music, mine, since I have no idea of what you like, and I’ve also looked for audio-books. There’s Harry Potter, the Lord of The Ring, the first two books of the Harry Bosch series, just in case you like crime, and oh yes, Thurgood Marshall, if you like the law…”

Matt felt out breath as flashes of the memories of when his masters got him audio-books in Chinese and then punished him for not being able to understand them.

“Leo? Leo? Are you okay?” 

Foggy was rubbing his back, trying to calm him down.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You can use it, or not. Your choice. Here. Let me show you”

The boy took his hand and passed his index finger over the small object. He could have felt the little triangle even without his senses. Foggy had been sensitive about his blindness. 

“This is for playing” he went on “These other ones are for fast play… if you keep them pressed longer it will skip track, if you want to change book or song… and this other one is for pausing”

Matt listened to him, trying to pay attention through the panic growing up in him. Foggy handed him headphones.

“Come on” he urged gently “try it”

Matt didn’t want to. When he tried it, he will be punished for not understanding the language, but Foggy had given him a direct order. He would be punished if he didn’t obey.

He pressed play.

_ “Harry potter - book one“ _

A metallic, female voice narrated the title of the file.

_ CHAPTER ONE _

_ “THE BOY WHO LIVED” _

_ Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. _

 

Matt felt his eyes getting wet as tears began to spill from them. English.

He wouldn’t believe it. 

He pressed the fast-forward botton to change book. English again. He went on on the next book, and the next one.  All the Harry Potter’s books were in English. And the other ones too.

It wasn’t a trap.

Foggy was good. Foggy had given him books.

* * *

Leonard was crying, but Foggy could tell it wasn’t for the panic, this time. He wasn’t shaking, or trying to hide somewhere.

He was just sitting still, playing with the Mp3 player and crying. 

Foggy really had to move if he didn’t want to be late for school, but he couldn’t just leave him like this. He hugged the boy hoping to calm him down.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Leo. I promise. You are such a good boy, and you deserve nice things.”

Leo now was openly crying, sobs and everything, but it seemed more a thank you than anything else. Okay, the saddest thank you ever, but it was enough for Foggy to be happy.

He had made the right call, and, maybe, they could move forward now.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Leave a kudos, or a comment, let me know what you think, make questions and give suggestions! I'll reply to everyone!  
> Also, this chapter is un-betaed, so feel free to point out any error!


	12. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Foggy, please. Let me die. Die is better than adult people. Please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it!!  
> I know it's been almost six months, but my life got pretty weird and different since I published last time.   
> I got plenty of free time and my muse disappeared for a bit... then in July I found a full time job... my muse came back, but my time went away :D   
> So... sorry sorry sorryyyy!  
> And also thank you for all the kudos and comments you keep sending me every single day. Really. Thank you.  
> I almost reached 100 subscriptions and 40 bookmarks and almost 250 kudos.  
> To each one of you. THANK YOU.   
> Thank you for your patience, and I promise I'll try to update more often!  
> To each one who has left a comment... Thank you, you all made my day with you opinions and thoughts about this story!  
> Grazie anche a te, lettrice italiana che hai commentato... il fandom di Daredevil è così piccolo in Italia che trovare un tuo commento qui mi ha spiazzata! grazie!
> 
> Ok. I'll let you reading!

Chapter 12

 

Matt listened to the books for almost an hour after Foggy left, before falling asleep into his kennel. 

He woke up only in the morning, when Foggy came in with breakfast. The boy didn’t mention the player, and Matt was happy he hadn’t already changed his mind about it. 

He knew Foggy could take it away any minute, or that his parents could came in and bring everything away from him, not forgetting Matt’s masters. 

Still, he waited until Foggy’s heartbeat was no more audible before taking it out and press play.

***

When Foggy came to the asylum after school, bringing a slice of pizza for Leo, found him with headphones on, listening to something on the MP3 player he had brought him.

He froze, but, somehow, Leo seemed to hear him coming, and stopped the book, yapping happily. It had been a terrible day at school: one of his classmates brought her new pet-brother in class for a science project.

She demonstrated how a pet-kid could be educated and trained. The poor kid had been rewarded with a dog, bone-shaped biscuit every time he did something good, like the sit position, or roll on the floor.

Foggy could barely watch it, but his stomach refused anything during lunch. That’s why Leo got pizza instead of the usual pasta or rice (which were the only things he could afford to buy if he wanted his allowance to last for the whole week). 

“Hi, Leo” he greeted, sitting beside the boy on the floor. Matt yapped. Foggy felt nausea growing up inside his chest “Please, Leo. Don’t do that, not today” he begged.

***

Foggy wanted him to be quiet?

Matt stopped any noise he was making. He didn’t want Foggy to remember the MP3 player and take it away as a punishment, or force him to eat without using his paws or anything else. 

He would be a perfect pet, so that Foggy couldn’t punish him at all. Tentatively, Matt crawled near Foggy, hoping the pizza he could smell was for him.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, Leo” Foggy smiled and petted him, before unpacking one of the biggest slice of pizza he had seen in the last few years. “I couldn’t eat at lunch, so that’s for you”.

Why couldn’t Foggy eat at lunch? Were his mother punishing him? Was Foggy in trouble because of him? Or was the pizza like the last one he ate, covered in sperm or worse?

Matt shivered at the memory of the taste in its mouth and the punishment he got when he couldn’t keep that thing in his stomach any longer.

Matt couldn’t yap or bark or whine for fear, so all he could do was lowering his head until it touched the floor. 

Sorry, Foggy. Please, Foggy, don’t make me eat that thing. Please.

But he knew it was useless. If he had decided it would be fun to see him eat that, nothing would change his mind. 

“It’s not your fault, Leo. A girl brought her pet-brother for a science project. It was terrible”. 

And now Matt wasn’t hungry anymore, but he couldn’t refuse the pizza, so he forced himself to eat.

He almost cried when nothing strange came to his nose. That was only pizza, with real cheese and tomato, and nothing else. 

He was rewarded by the hand of Foggy petting his hair and telling him he was good, even if Foggy’s heart was racing while he said those words. .

“I will be a lawyer some day, Leo” Foggy stated after he ate all his pizza “And I will fight to free every pet-kid treated as a dog. No. That’s not enough. I will fight to make this pet-kid crap disappear. I promise, Leo.”

Foggy’s heart beated truth, but Matt knew that it couldn’t be trusted. Now Foggy thought like that only because he was in that period of pet-kid adoption in which everything seems unfair, and terrible. But it wouldn’t last, Matt knew that very well. 

Once Foggy would truly understood Matt was his and no one would come after him for sexual or violence abuse, he will forget his dreams and become just like any other people out there, except, maybe, for the girl of the park. She seemed to care about the pet-kid she had adopted. Matt hoped she wouldn’t change her mind.

He didn’t know what to do with Foggy right now. He couldn’t act like a dog, Foggy said that loud and clear, but he couldn’t act like a human being, he wasn’t a human. He was a pet, and pets don’t act like humans. 

Foggy said smile was right, though.

Matt smiled.

Foggy’s heart did that thing it did any time Matt did something right and Matt relaxed a little bit. Matt lowered his pants and crawled outside while Foggy settled in the usual position he took any time he was going to study.

Matt hoped he was going to explain him maths. Matt liked maths. Or history. Or law.

 

When Foggy left the asylum, the sky was dark, covered with rainy clouds, and a cold wind was raising. He shivered and closed his coat as he run home, worried about Leo. 

He had turned the heater on before leaving, the one he had “borrowed” from his father’s warehouse, but he didn’t know how long could the battery last (it was supposed to be a spare source energy just in case of blackout, not the main one) and if the bad weather would turn into a storm, or worse, a snow storm, Leo would be in trouble.

His brain started thinking about the worst case scenarios possible and he got anxious about how to deal with Leo in case he couldn’t stay in that asylum.

He couldn’t bring home a pet-kid, Anna and Edwards would have a stroke seeing Leo like that, barking and crawling; Leo would be terrified as well by his parents, he would think they were going to fuck him or only God knew what else.

Rosalind… had he really thought about Rosalind?

An hotel was out of question. Even if he had the money to pay the room (and he could use Rosalind’s questionable vision of motherly love for that), there was no way someone would rent a room to a 15 years old boy, let alone if a pet-kid acting like a dog would be there alone.

He felt stupid and useless. He did a lot to keep him alive, to re-train him as a human being, and Leo would die because he couldn’t protect him from winter. Great.

 

Foggy decided not to think too much about it, not right now, anyway. 

He could just hope for the better.

***

He should have never hoped.

The storm began in the middle of the night, so strong to wake him up. He opened his eyes and looked out his window. 

The snow had covered (again) the streets, and a strong wind was shaking the trees. Definitely not good.

Foggy didn’t know what to do, he only knew he had to bring Leo somewhere safe, and that there was only one place where he could bring him. His bedroom.

***

Matt couldn’t sleep.

Snow had started a few hours ago, after Foggy left him with the heater turned on, which, Matt had to admit, had been kind from Foggy. There weren’t many pet that could say the same. Still, it was cold, and Matt could hear and smell there were some homeless and drug addicted in the asylum, probably looking for a shelter for the night.

That was no good.

If they were there, he couldn’t go out when he needed, and probably Foggy couldn’t go inside and bring him food or anything. They would attack in a moment, and Matt wasn’t sure he could defend him.

He was barely able to stand, how could he fight?

_ Pussy. _

Stick’s voice echoed in his mind, but he ignored it. It wasn’t his fault, this time. They had hurt him until he didn’t understand and learn he shouldn’t walk, and now it had been years since the last time he had walked somewhere.

Matt shivered and hid himself into the kennel, where he hoped to find relief from the cold.

***

Foggy looked out of the window.

He had to do something or the next morning Leo would be dead for sure. It was 3 in the morning, and his parents had been asleep for a few hours now. Foggy prepared a sort of kennel under his bed, hoping his mom wouldn’t find it. He used the warmest sheets he had and a pillow. It wasn’t like the furniture Leo liked so much, but he couldn’t do any better, at least for now.

He put a tracksuit over his pajama and the coat over it. He didn’t bring with him a second coat, Leo would never wear it without a fight, and a fight was the last thing they needed right now.

Still, he couldn’t bring him out there with only pants and a sweatshirt on. Then he suddenly remembered about Leika. Leika had been their dog a few years before, and Candace wanted at any cost her to have her coat for the winter. 

It was disgusting, but maybe Leo would put that on and follow him home. Foggy found it under its bed (why that damn thing was still under his bed after years?) and put it in its backpack along with the leash. He hated that thing, but any time they went to the park, Leo seemed to feel safer with it on, and he had also to admit that, being Leo blind, he felt safer too. He could be sure he couldn’t lose him somewhere, and tonight, with the snow and everything, he felt like it would be necessary.

Shaking because of the cold, Foggy pulled to hood on his head and began to run.

***

Matt heard Foggy’s heartbeat ten minutes before he could hear his steps at the beginning of the street. He really hoped he would have with him something warm, or that he would use him, just because in that way, he would not feel so cold anymore.

He listened to the other homelesses, but they were all fast asleep, or drunk, or, more likely, both. He didn’t care as long as they would leave Foggy and him alone.

“Leo” Matt heard his name along with the door of his room. He opened his eyes and looked in Foggy’s direction, yapping miserably. The sound came out weaker than he thought, and Foggy’s heart pounded in his chest in the way his masters’ did any time they discovered they couldn’t use him. He felt the boy run toward him and lowered his head, desperately trying to defend himself from the first kick or slap or whatever Foggy had in mind.

Matt knew how those things worked, it was nothing new.

 

_ “Sadly, the vet said he has to stay quiet, possibly alone so he could not infect us too” his mistress was explaining to their guest, who had come there only to play with him.  _

_ Matt was sick, he got the flu and he couldn’t suck his master off earlier. He didn’t dare to move or yap, too scared they would hit him. _

_ His mistress had been kind since they came back from the vet. She let him crawl into his kennel and covered him with a blanket. It was the one their previous dog (a real one) used and it stank and was scratchy, but Matt appreciated it anyway.  _

_ “That’s sad” a second woman answered “I really like the noise he makes when he gets fucked by my husband’s big dick” _

_ “Yeah” the mistress agreed “He acts likes he’s being splitted in two”. _

_ Matt sighed in relief. Maybe this time he wouldn’t be forced to take the two men inside him. _

_ “I bet we can make him whine like a real bitch anyway” the husband said. Matt shivered in fear, while the two women sounded interested. Of course they were. _

_ The man didn’t answered, and fever confused the world around Matt, so he could not exactly tell what was going home. There were movements and noises, was that wood? and… tape? _

_ Matt felt the panic grow into his chest. He hated not to know what was going on, especially if that meant some new game for the pretty pet. _

_ Then someone removed the blanket and strong arms pulled him out of the kennel. He didn’t even try to fight, he didn’t want to be chained again, so he just stayed still and quiet, hoping it would end soon. _

_ His stomach hit something hard, his arms and legs got spreaded and ropes tied them to four legs. A table top? Something hard but covered in soap slicked into his hole, surprising him.  _

_ It didn’t hurt, not after all the time he had taken his master and his friends. It’s hard and he can’t guess what is it.  _

_ He whines and yaps. _

_ Please, no. _

_ The thing was moving inside him, and then something bigger, came in. It hurt.  _

_ Matt cried. _

_ They laughed and the wifes clapped their hands. _

 

“Leo. Leo, are you okay?” Foggy’s hand was on his shoulder, and he was shaking him gently. “Leo… come on. Let’s go home”

Home?

No. No.

Matt whined loudly, desperately trying to make a ball of himself. Home was not good. Home was where adults were, and adults were bad.

Please, Foggy. Please.

*******

Great. Leo was having a panic attack, now.

Foggy crouched beside him and patted him gently on his head.

“I know, Leo. I know you are scared, but there is a snow storm out there and if you stay here, you will die”.

Leo whined as if dying would be better than going home with him, and Foggy felt a rush of anger toward whoever had adopted Leo before him, and it wasn’t the first time. Foggy now knew better than try and force him to calm down. He shivered and brought the heater nearer, then took the MP3 player and put the headphones around Leo’s head and pressed the play button.

*******

Yes, Foggy, please. Let me die. Die is better than adult people. Please. 

Matt shivered even more and yapped desperately.

Please, Foggy.

Suddenly, Foggy was no more beside him, and the sudden cold was almost shocking, but it was reassuring. He didn’t care to die if that meant not being taken home and used. 

Then something warm was near him, and the headphones were placed on his ears. He started shaking. He didn’t like when they put headphone on him, even if they weren’t enough to stop every sound around him. But then Foggy’s hand was on his shoulder again and a familiar male voice started chapter 12 of Harry Potter.

No.

No.

No.

This was even worse. 

This was pure cruelty.

Even worse than books in Chinese.

Foggy had given him books in English only to use them while he was fucking him or only God knew what. 

Matt yapped, scared, hoping Foggy would leave him alone, just for this night. The next morning he would be dead and there would be no more pet to play with. He would be with his father again and everything would be fine.

*******

How it was even possible?

He had thought it would help Leo, listening to his book, instead he was freaking out even more. 

Great.

“Leo” Foggy begged “Please… please. I don’t wanna hurt you…I don’t want you to die… please. Let me take you home… please. You can hide in my room, no one will know you are there, you just have to be quiet… I promise, Leo… please…”

Leo whined again, shaking under his touch, visibly terrified.

Foggy wanted to cry. He had no idea of what to do. He realized headphones probably weren’t the best idea, not without warning him before put them on his ears, but he didn’t want to take them away right now. Leo would understand he was punishing him for not being a perfect slut or something like that.

He decided to back off, to leave him alone for a while.

“Leo” he started, his voice a little bit higher to be sure he could hear him even with the headphones on. “I’m sorry. I swear. I’m sorry. Please, let’s go home. I promise no one is going to know you are there. You can hide under my bed, I’ve already set a shelter for you under my bed and when my parents are out you can stay under my desk, if you want. Leo…”

*******

Matt forced himself to listen to him. He was speaking and dogs should always listen to their owners. He listened to Foggy explain him there was a kennel waiting for him under his bed and everything else, and Matt understood he should obey him.

Pets had to be respectful of what their owners gave to them.

He had no choice but to crawl toward Foggy, his head down in apology.

The boy’s heart skipped in surprise, but Matt didn’t react. He stayed perfectly still when over his clothes Foggy put the dog coat. It stank, but Matt didn’t dare to complain and licked Foggy’s hand. Thank you, Foggy.

The boy settled the leash and together they walked into the snow storm.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! leave a comment, or a cookie :)


	13. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he was a kid, Matt loved the snow.
> 
> That was before he became a pet kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here I am again! My muse has come back, and I am trying to do my best to write as much as possible.  
> With this chapter a new part of this story starts, but I'm going to let you find out why!
> 
> Thank you so much for all tour comments and kudos! I didn't expect so much "love" after I left this story abandoned for almost six months!  
> That gave me a lot more motivation to keep writing, so really, thank you all!

When he was a kid, Matt loved the snow.

Who is the kid who does not love the snow?

When he could see, he could stay at his bedroom windows for hours, just watching the white snow flakes silently falling down and covering everything in white.

He remembered Hell’s Kitchen covered in snow like some kind of magical place, where all the bad things were forgotten for a while, hidden by the snow and the kids laughing and playing snow balls.

Even after he got blind, he had always liked snow. Everything got quiet and the little sound snowflakes made the moment they touched the ground was extremely relaxing. His father laughed when she said that to him, but Matt knew he wasn’t mocking him. 

That was before he became a pet kid.  


Crawling in the snow wasn’t funny as it was when he was a kid. His knees and legs got cold very very quickly and after a while, they begun to burn in a painful way.

He didn’t like when snow became a part of the games their masters found so exciting to play with their pet.

So, Matt wasn’t going to protest against Foggy walking so fast in the storm. The least they stayed outside, the best was for him, even if he didn’t know which kind of games Foggy’s parents were going to put on with him.

*******

Foggy lead Leo to his bedroom.

It was almost 4 in the morning, but luckily it was Saturday, so no school in the morning. He took off his coat and gloves as fast as he could before looking at Leo… and he realized he had no idea of what to do to not make Leo panicking.

The kid was visibly shaking but Foggy couldn’t tell if it was because of the cold or for the fear of being in a home where also adults were. He really wished Leo would talk to him right now.

“Leo” he whispered, and was rewarded by the kid’s head turning toward him. “Leo, you have to be very very quiet now, okay?”

The kid simply yapped, but it was low like a whisper. Good. 

No, you dumb idiot. It’s not good. He should nod. Or say yes. Or anything else!

“I am not going to hurt you or fuck you, ok? No fuck. I promise. But you need dry and warm clothes”

And a bath. But he didn’t say that out loud. 

Leo kept “looking” at him with his strange and unfocused eyes, which were at the same time sweet and weird. A strange combination, which was not unpleasant when Leo wasn’t scared to death like he was right now.

“So” Foggy kept whispering “Let’s take those clothes off, okay?”

*******

Foggy’s heart was telling him he was sincere, even the no fuck part, but Matt knew teenagers changed their mind in a blink of an eye.

Still, he had no choice. Pets had to obey and he was freezing despite of the dog coat Foggy had given him.

Matt listened to Foggy’s parents in the next room. They were deeply asleep and his father was slightly snoring too, so, at least for now, it was safe, or, at least, as safe as he could be with Foggy, who, Matt had to admit that, had never hurt him before, even when he could. 

Even when Matt wanted to say thank you.

Matt raised his arms and let Foggy take the coat off him.

“Good boy” Foggy praised him, and Matt smiled because he had told him to be quiet. 

He heard the noise of something getting opened (a wardrobe?) and Foggy looking for something among the clothes. He curled up on himself to try to have a little bit of warm from his own body. He could feel there was a carpet like a foot away from him, but he didn’t dare to step on it. Wet dogs couldn’t go on carpets or beds or couches.

Eventually, Foggy came back to him. “Ok, Leo. I have fuzzy warm pants and a hoodie for you, but first, we need to get rid of these wet clothes. Ok?”

Matt was so cold that he didn’t care anymore about being used. He just wanted the clothes he could feel were at the right side of Foggy.

He let Foggy move him like he wanted, yapping quietly.

*******

If Leo was scared, he was probably so cold he didn’t have the strength to have a panic attack. The boy just went completely limp and still for all the time Foggy took to undress and dress him in warm clothes.

Foggy took the chance and, still feeling like shit, changed also Leo’s underwear and socks.

“Here you are, Leo. Warm and dry” Foggy took a biscuit from his desk and gave it to him.

Leo yapped and took it with his mouth directly from his hand, and Foggy tried (and failed) with all his strength not to think he was giving a prize to a dog who had just done a good training exercise.

“Come here, Leo. Let’s see your kennel”

Leo seemed surprised and interested at the same time, as if he didn’t expect to go to bed so early and without being fucked or only God knew what else.

Foggy decided to just ignore his expression and slithered under his bed with Leo following him. The kennel was a simple giant cushion with a soft blanket. Luckily, Foggy’s bed had plenty of space under itself, so Leo could fit comfortably on his cushion.

The kid seemed to like it and licked his hand in thank you.

Foggy waited for him to fall asleep before going to bed. It was almost five in the morning.

*******

Foggy’s mum woke up. 

Matt had managed to sleep maybe half an hour before he heard Foggy’s mother’s breath change into the one of an awake person. Matt didn’t know what to do.

Pet should always be ready in the morning for their owners, but Foggy had been very clear about not making any noise and not let his parent’s see him.

Was it a test?

A sort of new game just to punish him?

Matt was trying to find a way out of this game but, either way, he could not avoid the punishment. The real problem was… he didn’t know which alternative would lead to a less harsh consequence. 

Paying attention to not wake Foggy up, Matt got out of his kennel under the bed and carefully took out all his clothes, then opened the door and crawled into the kitchen, where he just waited for the woman to enter.

Foggy’s father was waking up too. 

Matt waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!   
> Cookies and comments help me write, pleas,e let me just know what you think of this story!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! Hope you'll keep reading this!
> 
> And now I have a Tumblr, please pass and say hello, or leave a cookie, or let me know what do you think of my stories!  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dalamarf16


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